My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World (1999) Reviews

A well received homecoming that falls slightly short of their best work.

My Dying Bride faced some tough choices after the widely negative response to their 1998 album 34.788%...Complete. First of all they had to deal with a fair amount of line-up instability, but once that was sorted they had the more significant question of what direction to take their music on future releases. They’d need to find a new drummer after Bill Law, who performed on 34.788%...Complete after long time member Rick Miah contracted Chrone’s disease, had visa issues and was forced to return to Canada. Things got more complicated when guitarist and original member Calvin Robertshaw made the somewhat strange decision to stop playing guitar for the band and be their tour manager instead. The drumming issue was quickly sorted when Shaun Steels became available after a short stint with Anathema. He’d performed on the Alternative 4 album after original drummer John Douglas left the band temporarily, only to be let go once Douglas returned. After eight years of dual guitarists, it was decided that Andy Craighan would record all guitars for the next album, at least delaying the recruitment of yet another member. With all this settled, the band decided not to tour and to instead sit down to figure out what their next move would be.

One look at the album cover for The Light at the End of the World gave their fans a hint as to what My Dying Bride’s decision was. Just as the band replaced their gloomy death metal looking logo to a more conservative one for The Angel and the Dark River as a representation of their move into more accessible realms, they signalled their return to death doom by going back to the old font. It’s easy to criticise the band for taking the easy way out, rather than continuing down the daring and unpredictable path that 34.788%...Complete set in motion, but given the almost irrational disparagement that came in response from long time fans, it’s hard to blame them. I’m a firm believer that a band should follow their inspiration no matter where it leads, and given that the band decided not to tour in 1999 due to the new line-up being filled with grand ideas for the band’s sixth album, it does appear that My Dying Bride followed their hearts rather than dollar signs. That being said, it’s not as though they completely disregarded their last couple of albums and the new skills they’d gained through experimentation. The Light at the End of the World is an amalgamation of parts from all of their previous works and while it might not add anything original or groundbreaking, it’s very solid and blatantly My Dying Bride.

One aspect of their old sound that didn’t make a comeback at this stage is violin. Jonny Maudling of Bal-Sagoth fame did perform keyboards for the album and while they give the tracks a fuller, grander sound, they rarely take centre stage. The Light at the End of the World is very much a guitar driven album, and considering every riff was created by Andy alone, it’s certainly a special album for him in particular. There are some huge tracks here such as Edenbeast, the title track and Christliar that are based around exceptionally moving, not to mention very heavy, doom riffs. If the album has a flaw it’s that the death metal facet is not integrated as smoothly as on albums like Turn Loose the Swans. The band tend to switch abruptly from slow, haunting doom sections into full fledged death metal complete with growls, before dropping the velocity just as abruptly. It’s almost as though the years away from writing death doom left the band just a bit out of practice when it comes to building neat transitions. Edenbeast is probably the most obvious case of this happening with the brutal death metal sections merely interrupting what is otherwise exquisite and totally absorbing doom. It’s strange to consider that despite desperately longing for My Dying Bride to bring back the brutal, that’s the aspect of the album I like the least.

Thankfully these occurrences are few and far between, with the rest of the 70 odd minutes being close to flawless. Aaron’s lyrics went back to the romantic, poetic form of yesteryear, with none of the misogynistic modernity found on the previous album. His vocals cover the whole spectrum from whispers to croons to roars and despite the odd awkward moment (such as the first part of Christliar) he’s as captivating as ever. Shaun Steels also demonstrated that he had what it takes with a crushing yet controlled performance that solidified his position in the band. She is the Dark opens the album in stunning form with those haunting strained notes setting the tone for the whole album and the title track is one of the most epic and despondent of the band’s career, but it’s the spiralling melodies of Into the Lake of Ghosts and the simply wonderful closing track that I consider highlights. Sear Me III in particular is achingly beautiful and continues a fine tradition of Sear Me reimaginings that I hope isn’t yet complete. The Light at the End of the World is an excellent return to form for My Dying Bride who would only gain in strength over the next couple of releases. They still had to clear one or two cobwebs out of the system before they could create another true masterpiece but this is more than recommended for fans of their work.