My Dying Bride
Bring Me To Victory
Peaceville Records
27 October 2009
by Jon Kerr
Everyone gets depressed. Currently, everyone is moaning about how dark it gets in the winter. How wet and miserable it is. This after several months of moaning about banks. But that’s not true depression, is it? Medically speaking? Maybe we should just find an appropriate outlet for our misery and get on with life.
Take Aaron Stainthorpe for example. He’s made ten albums of misery with his band, My Dying Bride, the last of which came out earlier this year and was called For Lies I Sire. From it, the song ‘Bring Me To Victory’ cometh.
My Dying Bride’s back-catalogue is a minefield of hidden gems and terrifying horrors. The Bring Me To Victory EP is thus a microcosm. Both the title track and their very cool Swans cover, ‘Failure’, are first rate and well worth a spin. Sandwiched between the two though is no less than a detestable abomination: a cover ‘Scarborough Fair’, the medieval ballad made famous by Simon & Garfunkel. Perhaps Stainthorpe wanted to reclaim the darkness of the song (he has added two verses of his own), but frankly anyone who hears this version will sooner contract the plague itself than relive the experience.
Watch the video to ‘Bring Me To Victory’ by My Dying Bride
To complete the release , there is a live rendition of the doom-laden ‘Vast Choirs’ (which dates back to 1992). Doom fans shouldn’t get over-excited by the eleven minute track-length as the last two and a half of those are just applause. If that makes you feel cheated, just be thankful you’ve got something else to moan about.
3/6
Top tracks: Bring Me To Victory, Failure
Sounds like: someone needs a cuddle
My Dying Bride – Bring Me To Victory EP tracklisting
Bring Me Victory
Scarborough Fair
Failure (Swans cover)
Vast Choirs (Live at Graspop Metal Meeting 2008)