Search - My Dying Bride :: Dreadful Hour

Some of the Best Doom/Goth Metal You'll Find.

p_drl | 03/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're into dreadful, depressing, heartfelt, somber, gloomy death/doom/goth metal, this should be high on your "to buy" list. By far MDB's album, (respectively, next to "Angel and the Dark River") 2001's "The Dreadful Hours" saw a return to the majestic mood of "Turn Loose the Swans". The classic MDB formula remains intact with its saddening guitar melodies, Aaron's crooning clean vocals and tortured roars fronting the atmospheric keys. If you sit back and listen to this album, you can imagine a rainy night in a desolate city, seeing a melancholic stranger walk the street, drenched in ice-cold rainwater and his own tears. Many of the lyrics in the songs play out as songs themselves, and these are far from cliche "heartbreak" lyrics. This is true emotion and depression that could come from only MDB. Aaron's poetic and beautiful lyrics speak of a tormenting past and heartbreak-induced feelings of suicide... Not a happy man, and that clearly shows in the music.



But the doom and gloom permeating this album enchants like no other doom metal band could. MDB never stay at one tempo like many doomsters do. They experiment around with some up-tempo rhythms, but maintain the atmosphere that is so well-acheived on this album. The guitars utilize some tasteful effects, and the crushing death metal parts somehow fit in with the gothic harmonizations. This shows best on "The Raven and the Rose", easily one of MDB's best songs. The drums seem a but haphazard at some points, and go off doing their own thing at times, seeming to lose focus, thus some of the later songs and longer passages seem to meander. But the album as a whole does not suffer, and even the longer songs never seem to bore.



1. The Dreadful Hours- Haunting lyrics... The song starts out with a desolate melody repeating itself with the sound of rain, and then kicks a few minutes later in with a funeral dirge tempo and Aaron's agonized crooning, later building into a chugging, forceful death metal passage with some great growling. This is a great opening song and sums up the album well. 5/5



2. The Raven and the Rose- Starts out fairly heavy with some crunchy guitars and ferocious growls. It later slows down with some soothing clean vocals. The pianos near the end are aboslutely mesmerizing... Which busts into my favorite part of the song of sore melodies on the guitar. Another set of great lyrics, and my favorite on the album. 5/5



3. Le Figille De Tempesta- Meh... This song didn't do much for me. The song structure is rather predictable and repetitive, and the song doesn't really change that much from its slow marching tempo and sub-par guitar melodies. A slow part here, a heavy part there... Pass this track. 2/5



4. Black Heart Romance- The shortest song on the album, and definitely one of the more haunting, especially with the pseudo-dominatrix lyrics and strangely sexual mood. A fair song I'd say, but not too special. 4/5



5. A Cruel Taste of Winter- Amazing keyboards and guitars here... In fact, it's just an all-around great performance. The crunchy guitars perfectly contrast Aaron's haunting clean vocals, even though the song picks up later on. Another of my favorites on the album. 5/5



6. My Hope, The Destroyer- A bit faster than the others and has some great guitar melodies, and amazing lyrics as well. Another great song. 5/5



7. The Deepest of All Hearts- Probably the heaviest song on the album. Definitely a crushing track. If you're wanting an estimation of what the album sounds like, this is the song to download. 4/5



8. The Return to the Beautiful- A re-make of an older MDB song. It's definitely more crushing, tighter, and much more aggressive than the previous version. Also a very aggressive song... (This one has some blastbeats near the end! Woah!) An epic closer. 5/5



I would reccommend other MDB albums with this, mainly "Angel and the Dark River". Reccommended to fans of goth metal, and to fans of Katatonia.

"