Band:	My Dying Bride
Album:	34.788%... Complete
Style:	Gothic doom metal
Release date:	October 06, 1998
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. The Whore, The Cook And The Mother
02. The Stance Of Evander Sinque
03. Der Überlebende
04. Heroin Chic
05. Apocalypse Woman
06. Base Level Erotica
07. Under Your Wings And Into Your Arms
08. Follower [Japanese bonus]

After the renowned and poetic "Like Gods Of The Sun" My Dying Bride started working on the successor of this brilliant album. Sadly, Martin Powell announced to the rest of the band that he would leave My Dying Bride and everything happened so suddenly, with the rest of the band having to keep on working on the new album without an important part of them, Powell's keyboard/piano and violin work.

And thus the title of the long awaited new My Dying Bride album, back in 1998, was "34.788%... Complete". An album different and the band was accused by a big part of their fan base for enriching their sound with intense trip hop elements and ideas "foreign" to their sound. Well, to tell the truth, those who accused My Dying Bride back then must have been the same that accused Celtic Frost for "Into The Pandemonium", Paradise Lost for their turn etc, so there's no need to keep in mind the opinion of people wearing blinders, on the contrary, we will see the album with an open mind.

This time My Dying Bride, through the obscurity and difference of their sound, show more a will for an artistic approach concerning their sound rather than a poetic one. Trip hop references are quite obvious through the whole duration of the album and the use of the FX and electronic references is quite wise, evoking a chaotic feeling in the air. The floating keyboard melodies evoke a twisted and at the same time serene feeling, something so beautifully contradictive that paces in an ideal way with the flow of the album.

The guitar riffing is not so doom oriented and the guitars have a different sound approach, yet there's nothing that can stop the trained ear of a My Dying Bride fan to notice that, actually, the riffing is My Dying Bride, no matter how different the sound and feeling may be. The drumming has an accompanying chill out role, yet there are moments when it sounds imposing and groovy lending power to the song whenever this is needed. The bass lines lend the ideal groove to the compositions, for one more time, with their pulsating sound. Aaron's vocals are for one more time clean and melodic, they even sound distorted with FX at times, lending to the obscure feeling of the atmosphere. The female vocals that accompany Aaron at times is a very good addition making the sound more affected.

The album flows as one, well, it seems that My Dying Bride are one of those bands that have that magical power to compose albums that can haunt the listener as a whole entity and not remain on specific songs. "34.788%... Complete" is one of those albums and the long epic "The Whore, The Cook And The Mother" (damn, that outburst on 8:30 is so inspired and awesome, escalating the emotional charge of the song!), the twisted "The Stance Of Evander Sinque", the intense and at the same time serene "Der Uberlebende", the trip-hop oriented and obscure "Heroin Chic" (porn doom, hell yeah!), the groovy, thanks to the imposing drumming and the pulsating bass lines, and atmospheric "Apocalypse Woman", the melancholy and perversion of "Base Level Erotica" and the hymn "Under Your wings and Into Your Arms" can prove this to you!

If you are a My Dying Bride fan and something different, yet artistic, won't scare you, then you should definitely give "34.788%... Complete" a chance and pay it the ideal attention it deserves.