{"id":11100,"date":"2013-05-06T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T00:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=11100"},"modified":"2014-07-16T12:14:31","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T12:14:31","slug":"ep-review-my-dying-bride-the-manuscript","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-my-dying-bride-the-manuscript\/","title":{"rendered":"MY DYING BRIDE – The Manuscript EP | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MY DYING BRIDE
The Manuscript EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nPeaceville (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

After 2012\u2019s oaken A Map Of All Our Failures<\/em><\/a> Yorkshire\u2019s finest doom mongers return to the fray with another staggeringly sombre EP that, like 2011\u2019s The Barghest O\u2019 Whitby<\/em><\/a> EP, drags the listener into its squalid pit of sorrow.<\/p>\n

The Manuscript<\/em> features four elegantly morose numbers, starting with the sullen whine of the title cut \u2013 a reflective, mournful dirge caressed by Aaron Stainthorpe\u2019s distinctive goth-tinged vocal and those shaded guitars which evoke images of bleak moorlands and fog-enshrouded marshes. Even Shaun MacGowan\u2019s choking violin is rain-spattered as the five-piece lumbers, and yet with grace, through this cracked masterpiece of a track.<\/p>\n

Of all the doom metal bands, My Dying Bride are without doubt the genre\u2019s least suffocating, despite their dreary gothic tales of love and loss \u2013 there being something so wistfully classical about their aged laments.<\/p>\n

Aaron Stainthorpe\u2019s vocals take on a gruff form for the more uptempo wails of \u2018Var Gud Over Er\u2019, the band\u2019s austere horizon of sound rolling out like some weather-beaten tapestry. Lena Ab\u00e9\u2019s bass has all the miserable quality of distant thunder, accompanying those sodden drums of gloom. However, the seemingly bright glint on the grey hillside is soon obliterated as My Dying Bride ooze back to their usual slow-motion lope, exuding further tales of tragedy as those somehow tranquil harmonies sweep across the face like wisps of autumnal mist.<\/p>\n

Track three is the quicksand moan of \u2018A Pale Shroud Of Longing\u2019, another melancholic assault that heaves itself into view with a cumbersome riff that has all the subtlety of a rampant golem. And yet where there is stark horror there is also fleeting hope, again provided by Shaun MacGowan\u2019s windswept violin which has all the antiquarian splendour of an M.R. James ghost story.<\/p>\n

The production of Rob \u201cMags\u201d Magoolagan is, as you\u2019d expect, fantastic, as every instrument breathes like an epic sigh of relief through those suffocating clouds of doom.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that I always preferred the far denser yawns of early My Dying Bride, but their last batch of releases have entrapped me in their oily coils and dragged me in. Although rain-soaked, I have emerged, and I feel all the better for it. The Manuscript<\/em>, alongside The Barghest O\u2019 Whitby<\/em> are the best doom-laden recordings I\u2019ve heard for some time.<\/p>\n

My Dying Bride has no competition, having nailed just about every doom-scape possible since they arrived on the scene in the early 90s. Aaron Stainthorpe has always had the ability to shift between styles, whether in the form of desolate narration or throaty grunt, his crystal clear chants reminding me of those drizzly goth days of the 80s.<\/p>\n

The final track of the EP is the haunting buzz of \u2018Only Tears To Replace Her With\u2019, a truly mournful dirge that drifts in on a funereal guitar drone as Aaron Stainthorpe relates another tale of downbeat lore. The drum is merely a church bell toll in the distance as the singer moans, \u201cI hate everything around me, but I want to carry you back to heaven\u201d<\/em>, bringing this foreboding scripture to its final breath.<\/p>\n

Clocking in at just under 30 minutes The Manuscript<\/em> is one book you won\u2019t find on Richard & Judy<\/em>\u2019s list of must reads, but if you\u2019re a metal fan, as well as a doom fan, then this EP is just the ticket \u2013 so grab your cloak and join this procession of the damned.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MY DYING BRIDEThe Manuscript EP Peaceville (2013)Rating: 9\/10 After 2012\u2019s oaken A Map Of All Our Failures Yorkshire\u2019s finest doom mongers return to the fray with another staggeringly sombre EP that, like 2011\u2019s The Barghest O\u2019 Whitby EP, drags the listener into its squalid pit of sorrow. The Manuscript features four elegantly morose numbers, starting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-dying-bride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11100"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20321,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11100\/revisions\/20321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}