Review by Daniel for My Dying Bride - Songs of Darkness, Words of Light (2004)

The eighth full-length from Halifax's finest doom/death exponents is another strong effort that combines their various components in possibly the most cohesive way yet with the doom/death, gothic metal & conventional doom metal elements being perfectly entwined to create a focused & unified journey. The album begins in solid fashion over the first few tracks before dropping the momentum a little through the middle, only to recover in the most emphatic way possible by closing with two of My Dying Best tracks ever. Aaron's clean vocals are perhaps his best to date as I don't find them half as repetitive as he is sometimes guilty of. His harsh vocals do sound a little weak through the first half of the album though before recovering for the stronger material at the back end of the tracklisting. While there are no weak tracks included, the mid-album lull does prevent me from reaching for my higher scores but there's not doubt that "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" is a strong release that fans of bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema & Draconian will do their fair share of frothing over. In fact, I'd take it over 2001's widely praised "The Dreadful Hours" album & only place it behind My Dying Bride's classic 1992-1995 material in their overall back catalogue these days.