Band:	My Dying Bride
Album:	Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light
Style:	Death doom metal, Gothic doom metal
Release date:	2004
A review by:	Deadsoulman

01. The Wreckage Of My Flesh
02. The Scarlet Garden
03. Catherine Blake
04. My Wine In Silence
05. The Prize Of Beauty
06. The Blue Lotus
07. And My Fury Stands Ready
08. A Doomed Lover

After the utter success of The Dreadful Hours, often considered as their best album, it was not easy to release something at least as good. Great expectations surrounded Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light, expectations boosted by the delay due to artwork issues [the artwork, that for once was not designed by Aaron Stainthorpe, is as disturbing as the music]. Believe me, these expectations are not disappointed. Let's not keep the suspense, the last My Dying Bride is at least as good as The Dreadful Hours, and probably even better.

The doom godfathers continue their constant evolution and come back with the darkest songs I've heard for a long time. This album was obviously recorded to bring the world to collective suicide. I'll go quickly over the lyrics, if you know My Dying Bride, you'll be aware they deal with loneliness, love, despair, death, damnation, abandon and all that joyous stuff. As wretched as always. So. This album can be seen at once as a step forward and a step backwards. Forward because all they have done so far is pushed to the limit: the feelings are exacerbated, the atmospheres are more chiselled, with a constant use of the keyboards and piano, that replace the violin. Backwards because the clean vocals are dominant here, something we had not heard since 34.788%... There are still death passages, fast riffs and growlings, but they are rather discreet.

Thus Songs Of Darkness... is calmer than before. But it is also strangely more extreme than The Dreadful Hours, in the sense that everything here is brought to a climax: the dark atmospheres are darker, the slow passages are slower [slower than 'Catherine Blake', except Shape Of Despair, I don't know], the screams are harsher, the clean vocals are more hypnotizing and desperate. You'll certainly need some time to get accustomed to the vicious wickedness of this album, but once it is growing on you, there is no turning back.

At first sight, Songs Of Darkness... is a bit messy, there seems to be no real cohesion between the songs... Well, each song has its own identity, but they all have in common this little something, this tearing complaint of the guitars, these particular tunes that are the trademark of My Dying Bride: 'The Wreckage Of My Flesh' has a most wicked introduction that leads to a very sad song that catches the listener in the heart. Aaron Stainthorpe makes vocal prowesses here. 'The Scarlet Garden' reminds of the spirit of The Light At The End Of The World, with an excellent and catchy death metal passage. The highlight of the album is incontestably 'My Wine In Silence', a song a la 'Le Figlie Della Tempesta'. I bet it will soon be considered as much a classic as 'The Cry Of Mankind'. Sad, suicidal, simply beautiful. 'The Blue Lotus' is quite unusual for My Dying Bride, the spoken words upon the typical doom riff create a strange and disturbing atmosphere. 'And My Fury Stands Ready' is the most fucked up [in the good sense] song here, with this long break made of arpeggios along with wind and sea sounds. This is extremely weird, and I can't help but being caught by visions of dark and barren moors under a black cloudy sky. 'A Doomed Lover', which closes the album, is nearly as strange. It is a very gloomy song with Aaron stressing his text like a voodoo priest. The end of this song is a stunning epic doom instrumental part... It's too short I want more!

It is, you'll have noticed, quite hard to describe Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light. You'll really need to listen to it to have a more acute idea of its content. You only have to know that the biggest quality of this album is, beyond the music itself, more than ever its atmospheres, and the ability of My Dying Bride to really create emotive surroundings. Be ready to feel what you've never felt before...

Even if for me it is their best album, and probably one of the best of the year, I cannot give it a 10. I don't know why, I am never 100% satisfied with My Dying Bride; I always have this feeling that they can do better than what they show. Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light is excellent, it is a masterpiece, but ony almost perfect. According to their evolution, the next one should be the One.