Band:	My Dying Bride
Album:	A Mortal Binding
Style:	Death doom metal
Release date:	April 2024

01. Her Dominion
02. Thornwyck Hymn
03. The 2nd Of Three Bells
04. Unthroned Creed
05. The Apocalyptist
06. A Starving Heart
07. Crushed Embers

My Dying Bride are back, wishing to bind us mere mortals once again to their beautiful realm of melancholic death doom. I'm up for it, are you?

The UK pioneering gothic doom legends My Dying Bride now have an outstanding 34-year career that spans back to their formation in 1990. Throughout that time, the band have presented some of the finest albums ever released in gothic/death doom, but if you're a metalhead in any way, shape, or form, then I'm sure you would already know about that, so there will be no need for further introduction. This leads us to the band's 15th full-length offering, A Mortal Binding, for which founding members Andrew Craighan (guitars) and Aaron Stainthorpe (vocals) lead a six-member line-up, which, bar the recent reintroduction of former drummer Daniel "Dan" Mullins, remains unchanged since 2020's The Ghost Of Orion.

Despite not quite living up to the ultra-high standards of the band's early material, their previous offering, The Ghost Of Orion, was still mostly met by a positive reception even with its slightly stripped-back approach, but what of A Mortal Binding? Well, as is custom with My Dying Bride, it's very lengthy, with 7 slow-building, emotionally powerful, doomy melancholic songs, and a total running time of just under an hour. Beginning in classic death doom fashion is the tremendous opener "Her Dominion", a song that sums up the style of My Dying Bride to an absolute tee. The start of the song has you hooked almost immediately with a classic heavy mid-tempo catchy doom riff that's guided by a powerful, slogging rhythm section. Throughout the track, you'll be met by beautiful sweeping violin strings, mesmerizing keys and symphonies, and of course, Aaron Stainthorpe's distinctive harsh growls, which have always remained a key factor in the band's trademark style.

"Thornwyck Hymn" (named after the village of Thornwick in the band's home county of Yorkshire) follows in a slightly different manner, this time with a more rapid tempo, and Stainthorpe's classic sorrowful, haunting clean singing is introduced instead of his harsh growls. Again, the track continues in heavy mid-tempo death doom fashion, helped once again by melancholic violin and mesmerizing, slow, wailing guitar leads. From here, things don't necessarily improve as such, but then, there isn't really much need for improvement, and the quality remains consistent. "The 2nd Of Three Bells" is perhaps the album's most haunting and atmospheric song, beginning in a pedestrian pace with gentle acoustic guitar and soft background synths that buildd continuously, while the ghostly singing works exceptionally well with the harsh growls, which are further accentuated by melancholic guitar leads and doomy mid-to-slow riffs. Beyond this point, the album continues with heavy, powerful, chugging mid-to-slow riffs complemented by the excellent rhythm section, along with well orchestrated symphonic arrangements, stunning violin and acoustic passages, and yet more passionately sorrowful vocals.

My Dying Bride are renowned for creating emotionally charged, sorrowful soundscapes, and having a special ability to make the most joyful person fall into a trap of hopelessness and utter despair, whilst also being able to uplift the spirits of the most depressed souls, bringing them happiness and delight. This pretty much sums up death doom in general, but you could say the genre began with this band in the first place. By proving they've in no way lost their touch, A Mortal Binding acts as a true testament to what this band have achieved; being able to carry on this form for over 3 decades is no means feat. While they'll likely never reach the height of their prime, which arguably ended 20 years ago with Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light, they have remained consistent. A Mortal Binding brings back a glimmer of the band's old glorious spark, and in time could go down as one of the band's strongest releases for nearly 2 decades.