Released on May 22, 1995 via Peaceville Records, My Dying Bride’s “The Angel and the Dark River” was arguably the first release to show the band traveling the furthest from their Death Metal origins. Aaron Stainthorpe dispensed with his Death grunt entirely, apart from the final track of the original release ("Your Shameful Heaven"), the tempo was unremittingly slow.
Overview:
Aaron Stainthorpe's lyrics continue in the vein of “Turn Loose the Swans”, focusing on religious symbolism and relationship problems. Stainthorpe has said in many interviews that "Two Winters Only" is his favorite My Dying Bride song.
For the first time in the band’s history, guitar player Andrew Craighan was the sole composer of a My Dying Bride record, which was considered “strange” to the guitarist. Many song ideas for “The Angel and the Dark River” were completed during the recording of the album at Academy Studios. Craighan cites "The Cry of Mankind" as an example: "we had the vocals, we had that guitar line (Calvin Robertshaw's repetitive arpeggio background guitar), we had the drums and the bass. The other guitar line, the heavier guitar line, was non-existent."
The use of violin is now a fully integrated part of the music with the violin being used extensively. Violinist/keyboard player Martin Powell also adds tasteful layers of atmospheric keyboards to the music. Seemingly, Powell's violin and keyboard appear to be the basis for which the rest of the song arrangements are structured. The guitar, bass, and drums are still very present, and while "The Angel and the Dark River" is overall a dynamic release featuring many subdued mellow sections, the music still features pulverizing Doom Metal passages, with the feel of the music being reinforced by well rounded a production.
This water-charged inspiration comes from their home, the north of England. Andrew Craighan said that they "subscribe very much to the ideas of the mist and the fog and the castles. All of that typical English stuff. Constantly fucking raining. And it's just always bleak here. It's always cold. It's always miserable. We actually kind of enjoy that in a sick way, so to write about it and to sing about it is nothing new."
My Dying Bride were ultimately invited by Steve Harris to be the opening band of Iron Maiden's European tour. Harris himself made the invitation, phoning Andrew Craighan to tell him that he thought “The Angel and the Dark River” was "a killer album". Peaceville later on reissued the record in a limited double-CD edition, featuring an alternate cover scheme and an extra disc with their 1995 Dynamo Open Air live performance. About the concert, MDB guitarist Andrew Craighan revealed; “We enjoyed it a lot, but it was our first gig after six months, so we were rusty. Rehearsing in a rehearsal room is one thing, but in front of 3500 people or more, suddenly you're not sure how to play the songs in a live environment. That's the importance of playing warm-up shows. We learned valuable lessons that night, but it wasn't the ideal place for that!”
In Conclusion; "The Angel and the Dark River" is truly the natural successor to "Turn Loose the Swans". As songsmiths, My Dying Bride are in continual experimentation with their sound. Their approach to songwriting is both, imaginative and nondiscriminatory. One could allude to any song from "The Angel and the Dark River" as precedence, but "The Cry of Mankind" is the most illustrative of an unorthodoxly structured song. But ultimately, every song on this release is deserving of high regard.
In October 2011, “The Angel and the Dark River” was awarded IMPALA's gold record for sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe.
Click this link to listen to “The Angel and the Dark River” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-angel-the-dark-river/1189343249
Click this link to watch the official music video for “The Cry of Mankind”: https://youtu.be/j20oaOb3j6E
Click this link to follow My Dying Bride on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyDyingBrideOfficial
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