British death-doom legends, My Dying Bride, released their 15th studio album, A Mortal Binding, on April 19th.
Earlier today, April 21st, the band made the following announcement via social media:
"The production of this latest album was arduous and challenging to such an extent that it has revealed fractures within the band. These tensions had already been observed during the creation of the previous 2 albums and were only exacerbated during the Covid period. Over the past few months, they have intensified, causing a profound sense of discontent among the band members. The resulting stress and the pervasive feeling of burnout, along with the physical and mental malaise it creates, necessitated a period of time off which unfortunately impacts on live shows."
"The reason for the lack of an official statement until now is because the band has truly hoped to resolve these internal issues and perform some shows this year while trying find a resolution in time to satisfy all parties involved. Sadly, this resolution is yet to be found."
"Regrettably, a lack of understanding and poor communication from our professional partners has resulted in an untimely and chaotic mess from which a recovery is challenging. However, the promoters have now been officially contacted and it is hoped that steps can be taken to minimise the impact on you all."
"We apologise for keeping you in the dark, but these are indeed challenging times."
A Mortal Binding, the much-anticipated follow-up to The Ghost of Orion (2020) finds the Yorkshire-based quintet delighting in anxiety, loss, and toil to resplendent effect. From the raw distress of "Her Dominion" and twisted horror of "Thornwyck Hymn" to the funerary violins of the 11-minute monolith "The Apocalyptist" and the classic-feeling "The 2nd Of Three Bells", A Mortal Binding is pinnacle My Dying Bride. If Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light (2004) elevated the band to new heights and A Map Of All Our Failures (2012) expanded upon the group’s mid-tens grandeur, then A Mortal Binding stages My Dying Bride’s next exultant phase of elegiac misery.
My Dying Bride hired The Ghost of Orion studio wizard Mark Mynett to produce, mix, and master A Mortal Binding. The group holed up at Mynett’s Mynetaur Productions (Paradise Lost, Rotting Christ) in Manchester, UK, where they tracked the album consecutively from July to September 2023.
A Mortal Binding tracklisting:
"Her Dominion"
"Thornwyck Hymn"
"The 2nd Of Three Bells"
"Unthroned Creed"
"The Apocalyptist"
"A Starving Heart"
"Crushed Embers"
"Her Dominion" lyric video:
"Thornwyck Hymn" video:
"The 2nd Of Three Bells" video:
For over three decades, My Dying Bride from West Yorkshire have been the voice of the hopeless and broken, combining haunting sounds with crushing misery and melancholy. With their signature sound they've shaped the doom metal scene like barely any other act and integrated both soft violin melodies and violent death metal growls into their music, whilst always staying strictly loyal to themselves. And since the early Nineties, the band's masterminds and founding members Andrew Craighan and Aaron Stainthorpe forged beautiful grief into studio albums with songs of epic length. As My Dying Bride edge past their 33rd year, they’re aging gracefully, remaining as vital and heart-wrenching as ever. The flower withers once more on My Dying Bride’s new record A Mortal Binding.
My Dying Bride are:
Aaron Stainthorpe - vocals
Andrew Craighan - guitars
Lena Abé - bass
Shaun MacGowan - keyboards / violin
Neil Blanchett - guitars
Dan Mullins - drums
