#16 - Top of 2020

My Dying Bride -  The Ghost of Orion (Nuclear Blast)

People say that Black is typically not a colour. It is the complete absence of colour, the antithesis of light, that is, darkness. My Dying Bride exemplify that saying, going strong for thirty years with ideas born out of these dark moments, distilling them into songs and trying to exorcise the darkness by evoking it.

With their latest album "The Ghost of Orion", the band once more provides us with an excellent example of how sombre doom metal should be played with lyrics that provoke the darkest corners of our soul and music tailor-made to accompany said lyrics. The story behind the creation of this album makes its artistic content even stronger, as the daughter of singer Aaron Stainthorpe was battling cancer at a very young age during the recording of the record, making the content of the album have an extra emotional resonance to people who have faced up against this relentless disease. "Tired of tears", the second track of the album relates this story in a very personal way and, along with opener "Your broken Shore", are among the most beautiful songs the band has ever composed. Among other great compositions are the melodic "To Outlive The Gods", the collaborative effort with folk-metallers Wardruna "Solace", along with the epics "The Long Black Land" and the haunting "The Ghost of Orion".  The album closes out with "The Old Earth", more reminiscent of earlier eras of the band, with brutal vocals from Aaron having a more central role, juxtaposing with the mellow intro. One of the best albums of the band and a release worth having for all fans of great doom metal music. It is worth noting that the band also released an EP in 2020, which relies on their more gothic character which, while not reaching the levels of "The Ghost of Orion", is  a very nice companion piece to this album.

94.5/100

Below is the music video for the song "To outlive the Gods"