MY DYING BRIDE „Sinamorata”

Music: Doom
Country: England
Website: http://www.mydyingbride.org
Cool Songs: Every goddam one!!

England’s finest exponents of heavy melancholic doom have been a little quiet since the release of last year’s magnificent ‘Songs of Darkness, Words of Light’ album. I’m sure they’ve been involved in the usual bout of relentless touring, but I can’t recall them being on my metal radar all that often over the past 12 months. Looking to plug the gap between ‘Songs..’ and their next full length, My Dying Bride, with the support of Peaceville, have put together and released this exquisite long form DVD. Quite simply it is a mandatory purchase for all MDB fans.

If you’ve never witnessed (like me) the awesome scope of MDB’s music in the live setting, ‘Sinamorata’ is a visual delight that will have you revisiting favourite moments time and again. And there is much to choose from. As with most DVD’s, Peaceville have been careful to include the usual selection of ‘extras’ to allow the viewer to fully appreciate the ‘whole' of the bands personality. The additional sections of this DVD are good – and more about them later – but the initial reason for watching this is the 12 track live set that was recorded in 2003 at Hof Ter Lo in Antwerp.

Before taking a look at the set list itself, it is interesting to note that this live set comes from dates played just prior to the release of ‘Songs of Darkness…’ Based on the number of visually present cameramen and camera angels that this DVD entails, this gig was obviously set down for a live recording. I assume then, that the band didn’t do any such recording on the support dates for the ‘Songs of Darkness…’ album. It’s a minor quibble, but it’s kind of strange to see a slightly older gig being used here when we know they’ve done a whole host of live dates for the subsequent ‘new’ album.

Visually, this DVD is everything you would expect from a MDB live gig – remember this is a Doom band folks, so Kiss style pyrotechnics is completely out of the question. For the majority of this set the band is bathed in soft blue and purple light, little if any symbolic props are used and the musicians are clad in black with vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe providing the polarizing effect by turning up in an all white jump suit. Musically, the performance is flawless. Led by the master of depressive Doom riffs – Andrew Craighan – him, along with his partner Hamish Glencross unleash massive walls of distortion and simply sublime melancholic noodling throughout. Craighan in particular is a master of his craft – he may be eternally rooted to the spot throughout this gig, but for all he lacks in stage presence, he makes up in technical proficiency. Understandably, it is Aaron Stainthorpe that provides the visual presence – looking like he’s just walked in from a downpour – hair and scraggy goatee soaking wet – Stainthorpe spends most of his time either standing back to the crowd in crucifix pose, writhing on the floor in protracted agony (check his behaviour on ‘A Kiss to Remember’) or brooding mournfully over his mike stand. For a rather upbeat and witty chap off stage, he obviously treats his stage performance very seriously. Talk about getting into character.

With such a massive back catalogue to choose from, it’s going to be hard to please everyone with regard to the set list of the Antwerp gig. Opening up with the first two tracks from ‘The Dreadful Hours’ (the title track and The Raven and the Rose), they also lift another from said album a little later in the form of the awesome ‘My Hope, The Destroyer’. Stainthorpe introduces three ‘new’ tracks (at the time) in the form of ‘The Prize of Beauty, Catherine Blake and The Wreckage of my Flesh’ (all would appear on ‘Songs of Darkness.. in the following year). We are also treated with two tracks from 1999’s ‘The Light at the End of the World (She is the Dark & set ending The Fever Sea). The rest of the songs are choice moments from every other full length (except for ‘Turn Loose the Swans which doesn’t make the cut) – We get ‘The Cry of Mankind’ from 95’s The Angel.. album, Under Your Wings… from the much maligned 34.788% album of 1998, ‘A Kiss to Remember’ from 96’s ‘Like Gods of the Sun’ and finally the obligatory ‘Sear Me’ from their seminal 1992 debut ‘As the Flower Withers’. As far as I am concerned, there isn’t a hell of a lot to complain about with the material that the band covers here.

The DVD extras include two professionally shot and as is the MDB way, extremely arty videos for ‘The Prize of Beauty’ and ‘The Blue Lotus (both released for the ‘Songs of Darkness…’ disc). Furthermore, we get two even ‘artier’ videos that have been ‘made by fans’ (there is no clue as to who) for ‘My Wine in Silence (which features possibly one of the more despondent and tragic sounding guitar lines ever written by a doom band) and ‘My Hope, The Destroyer’. And if that wasn’t enough, we are treated to three more ‘live’ tracks from the Graspop Festival. You’ll also find included in the galleries of this DVD, band photo shots and a litany of artwork (as in drawings, paintings etc) the band has collected from various sources. All suitably dark and doomy, they add another dimension to the overall ambience of this bands music.

If you are an avid My Dying Bride fan, it’s pretty hard to ignore this DVD. If there’s anything to complain about, it’s the accompanying booklet which lacks in liner notes and other than set list, features only some unexplained literary prose about Catherine Blake. Why? That aside, the professionally shot (directed by Bernard Kellerer) live gig is great to witness and provides further proof of the dynamic and thoroughly unique qualities that this veteran Doom Metal band possesses. The extra add ons only make ‘Sinamorata’ even more essential. Superb!

note: Quote: 9.5

Tracklist

Live Concert :
The Dreadful Hours
The Raven and the Rose
Under Your Wings and Into Your Arms
The Prize of Beauty
The Cry of Mankind
A Kiss to Remember
Catherine Blake
She is the Dark
My Hope, The Destroyer
The Wreckage of My Flesh
Sear Me
The Fever Sea

Music Videos:
The Prize of Beauty
The Blue Lotus

Music Videos made by Fans:
My Wine in Silence
My Hope, the Destroyer

Live Video Cuts:
The Dreadful Hours
The Raven and the Rose
She is the Dark