Aaron Stainthorpe is known for painting bleak, devastating emotional landscapes as the voice of My Dying Bride. But with the emergence of High Parasite, a new project that fuses metal with gothic rock and dark synth-pop, the veteran frontman has found a renewed sense of vitality and something closer to happiness.
In a recent appearance on the Brutally Delicious podcast, Stainthorpe explained how the idea for High Parasite didn’t emerge in a dramatic split from his long-running band, but instead came to be as a slow transformation.
"It sort of evolved over months, I guess. So I didn't wake up and suddenly go, 'Right, I'm doing this now.' It just sort of evolved, and when something evolves at a slower pace, you've got time to get used to it. It's not a big shock, and you start to become that other person," he explained (via Blabbermouth).
"I said it before, I'll say it again: I feel 10 years younger. And so it must be good for my health. And weirdly — I don't know how this works — I'm eating better and I'm drinking less and I'm exercising more. So whatever I've decided to become or do is really beneficial on so many different levels."
Forever We Burn, the band’s debut album released last September via Candlelight/Spinefarm and produced by Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, has already started attracting attention, both from longtime fans of My Dying Bride and new listeners. The support from the former has been both encouraging and surprising.
"We always see My Dying Bride shirts at the gigs, and people come over and I'm signing My Dying Bride merch all the time. That will never stop, which is great. And a lot of them have come along for the ride. It won't be everybody's cup of tea, and that's fine. No one band is everyone's cup of tea. Some of them absolutely love it, and they've bought everything, which is absolutely fantastic. So, yeah, the MDB fans are coming along for the ride and for the most part loving it."
Musically, High Parasite offers a different energy, but not an entirely foreign one: “My Dying Bride did death metal and doom. Some of the death metal stuff was pretty rapid. It wasn't all doom. So, we knew how to nod our heads pretty rapidly back in the old days. And this is a bit more of that. The songs are obviously much, much shorter. They're super catchy."
The new format has introduced a unique challenge for Stainthorpe: what to do with himself when he’s not singing.
"I said I feel 10 years younger because the energy that the music brings and the energy that the younger members of High Parasite give off, it just makes me feel great. So on stage, I'm actually having fun. With My Dying Bride, I never had – I wouldn't call it 'fun' on stage, because the songs are really emotional and they're super heavy. It was draining mentally for me with My Dying Bride. With High Parasite, for the first time ever, I look forward to getting on stage, and I love being on stage with High Parasite. And I've never felt that."
"At this age in my life, you sort of think, well, you've done this thing for a long, long time, and that's all you're gonna do… And then suddenly something else comes along, and it flips the coin completely. And as I say, I feel 10 years younger, I'm full of energy and I can't wait for the next gig," he added.
The transition has not only brought musical satisfaction but also opened up creative doors that Stainthorpe hadn’t explored before.
"Because I've never reinvented myself before, it's all very, very new. It's all super new to me. I don't know what I'm doing half the time, but it just feels good. I've got a new lease of energy, and I'm doing things I've not done before. Which is good at this stage of my life, to be doing brand new things. It's great. And I've started reading my poetry at gigs as well now."
"In January this year, I did a show in a church in Belgium with Darkher and Sylvaine. It was brilliant. And I'm working on a few more of these sorts of events. Something's coming up in October, I believe, where I'll be performing again with Darkher and the Dead Space Chamber Music group, doing some poetry and some versions of My Dying Bride songs that people would've heard before. So, again, things I've never done before. [And I'm] really enjoying [it]."
That poetry is deeply intertwined with the lyrical world he’s known for, and for Stainthorpe, it serves as a new vessel for the same emotions.
"I still like writing the really heavy lyrics because that's really where my heart is — the deep, meaningful stuff. And while at the moment that's not lyrics for My Dying Bride, it's poems which I'm able to perform live. So I'm still venting my emotions, but instead of singing them with My Dying Bride, I'm speaking them to people who are bewildered sometimes, but for the most part, enjoying it. Because a lot of my poetry is very much like My Dying Bride lyrics. It comes from the same heart, same soul. So, if you like My Dying Bride lyrics, you're pretty much gonna like the poetry."
As My Dying Bride prepares for live shows in 2025 with Swallow The Sun frontman Mikko Kotamäki taking over vocal duties, Stainthorpe seems to have found peace with a dual identity, one rooted in legacy and another boldly stepping into unfamiliar terrain.
