My Dying Bride: The Poorest Waltz – new video

According to highly reliable sources, MY DYING BRIDE's new video, ‘The Poorest Waltz’, tells the story of “a midnight tryst between two young village men and a dorm of blind girls locked in a sanatorium, who dance the night away to elegant music and home made wine”. The tune itself comes from the death & doom crew's eleventh studio album, ‘A Map Of All Our Failures’, recorded and mixed at Futureworks Studios in Manchester, U.K. with production maestro Mags. ‘A Map Of All Our Failures’, released in October 2012 on Peaceville Records, can be ordered from here, including limited edition of the album featuring a bonus track and a 70-minute documentary DVD. While you admire the album's artwork created by Rhett Podersoo, visit Decibel Magazine here and listen to four new MDB songs/half of ‘A Map Of All Our Failures’:

“In short, [‘A Map Of All Our Failures’] is a breathtakingly beautiful record, full of achingly heavy but melodic riffs and melancholic orchestrations weaving in and out of funereal march rhythms that are sparse, yet insistent. Every note and every beat matters, but it’s the spaces in between that best convey the tragedy and inherent heartbreak so characteristic of MY DYING BRIDE,” [wrote Marcus Jervis, About.com – read more here]

“MY DYING BRIDE's distinctively sumptuous dual guitar melodies effortlessly flood into juggernaut doom metal riffs, with the vocals of Aaron Stainthorpe weaving a rich tapestry of tragic tales into the accompanying soundscapes. ‘A Map Of All Our Failures’ is perhaps best and most effectively summarized by guitarist Andrew Craighan, who describes the album as “a controlled demolition of all your hopes,” [added the press release]

Formed in 1990 in one time capital of the world wool trade, Bradford, England, MY DYING BRIDE released a demo called ‘Towards The Sinister’ within six moths following the band's inception and continued with the release of a 7” single ‘God Is Alone’. “Causing eager whispers in the underground”, it brought them to the attention of Peaceville Records. An EP ‘Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium’ was shortly followed by the band's first proper album, 1992's ‘As The Flower Withers’. MDB forged ahead with the release of their second EP ‘The Thrash Of Naked Limbs’, after which the band recruited long time session musician classically trained violin and piano player Martin Powell as a full-time member. Reportedly, with their second album ‘Turn Loose The Swans’, released in 1993, MY DYING BRIDE had taken sorrow to new extremes:

“The gothic strains and pure depression of the band are in peak form on this recording. … Averaging a cool eight minutes apiece, each of this record's seven songs is dripping with treachery and pain, as the band's lyrical fascination with deceit and transgressions of every variety are apparent in every line,” [summed the album up Jason Anderson, AllMusic – read more here]

‘I Am The Bloody Earth’ EP came next in 1994, and the six sinister, yet epic tracks averaging around nine minutes each that made up MDB's third longplayer, ‘The Angel And The Dark River’, followed in 1995 and was succeeded by ‘Like Gods Of The Sun’ in 1996. Original drummer Rick Miah, who contracted a debilitating illness, had been replaced by Bill Law on the band's experimental album 1998's ‘34.788% Complete’. Shaun Steels took up the drumming duties on 1999's ‘The Light At The End Of The World’ which also introduced guitarist Andrew Craighan. Shortly after the album was recorded, the band enlisted second guitarist Hamish Glencross. ‘The Light At The End Of The World’ was met with much praise by critics and fans alike and, emboldened, in 2001 MY DYING BRIDE recorded yet more angst and relentless misery they named ‘The Dreadful Hours’:

“True to MY DYING BRIDE's trademark, ‘The Dreadful Hours’ makes for a dreary, somber listening experience, but keeping that in mind, it’s also an really well-done and inspired album,” [complimented William York, AllMusic – read more here]

In 2003, MDB turned to producer Mags once again and their eight LP, ‘Songs Of Darkness Words Of Light’, followed in 2004. The recording that introduced keyboardist Sarah Stanton was described as “beautiful, just beautiful” by Thom Yurek, AllMusic. Preferring not to rest on their laurels, MDB continued to catalog yet more gloom and sorrow with compilation album and DVD they unleashed in 2005, while a three-track EP, ‘Deeper Down’, preceded their ninth album 2006's ‘A Line Of Deathless Kings’, with John Bennett handling the drums. Not to stray from tradition, the band issued a live recording in 2008, featuring their current bassist Lena Abé, who replaced Adrian Jackson, as well as new drummer Dan Mullins, with whom MDB recorded their tenth studio album ‘For Lies I Sire’. Introducing also new keyboardist Katie Stone, the album was depicted as “brilliant work” by Thom Yurek, AllMusic (more here). The band's longtime fans were treated with a series of symphonic and orchestral-based compositions in 2011, to “commemorate” MDB's 20th anniversary. Later that same year MY DYING BRIDE released an epic 27-minutes long track entitled ‘The Barghest O’ Whitby’, the first recording to feature violinist and keyboardist Shaun Macgowan. 

MY DYING BRIDE features: Aaron Stainthorpe – vocals, Andrew Craighan – guitar, Hamish Glencross – guitar, Lena Abé – bass and Shaun MacGowan – violin & keyboards