My Dying Bride
For Lies I Sire

I remember My Dying Bride from “Turn Loose the Swans”, “The Angel and the Dark River” and, why not, the more recent “Songs of Darkness, Words of Light”. I recall the masterpieces of one of the most emblematic and influential bands of the doom scene and the devastating emotions I felt (and still feel) listening to them in their gloomy splendor. After all, the Dying Bride has always been a guarantee of great class and undeniable quality: with every album, one could expect a work refined in every aspect, showcasing impeccable songwriting; in short, when the legendary Bride came into play, there was no competition. She was the doom, and those who have followed the genre know it very well.

Speaking in the past tense, in cases like these, can be quite disappointing.

It's 2009 and the English band finally decides to release the announced (and highly anticipated) latest work, "For Lies I Sire". After the fair "A Line of Deathless Kings" (2006), an album of clear gothic/doom metal, many expected some improbable return to the terrifying death/doom that made certain masterpieces famous, now (alas) belonging to the past. Needless to say, such expectations will not be even remotely met. But, even more seriously, this "FLIS" will not even be able to fully satisfy those expecting a band still in form, regardless of the musical direction taken.

First of all, the album is very similar to the previous "A Line...", only with more livid and nocturnal tones; indeed, the romantic and gothic vein that characterized its predecessor seems reduced to the bone, and consequently, FLIS takes on raw and apparently heavy sounds. The relative absence of the gothic component should make FLIS a leaden and biting work, more doom so to speak. Indeed, it does, yet not infrequently we find ourselves listening to watered-down tracks that passively recycle the ideas of "A Line...".

It is certain that the first three tracks present extremely interesting cues, partly thanks to the return of the legendary violin: both the whirling and cleverly structured progression of “Fall with Me” and the chilling, almost epic central sections of the very hopeless “My Body a Funeral” and “The Lies I Sire” speak for themselves, enough to continue listening with pleasant interest. Unfortunately, we will have to deal with generally uninspired and flat guitar riffing, somewhat minimized by the intervention of keyboards; such is the case of the embarrassing "Echoes from a Hollow Soul", empty and superfluous in its long, agonizing parade of clichés, probably the most harmless episode of the album. Traces of incompleteness undermine the stumbling "Bring Me Victory" (on the verge of being catchy) and the unsettling "ShadowHaunt" (which could have been developed more incisively): they are nonetheless two short tracks halfway successful that offer very little, except for that hint of bare desolation, just hinted at, that wafts hesitantly throughout the album's hour.

The malicious and fast-paced "A Chapter in Loathing", which by itself in an album of dramatic lullabies and hopeless cries already seems a bit out of place, will probably be hailed as a return to the origins of the most vicious death. Instead, it is a hasty and cold revival of the violence of past albums: a few minutes of dragged anger that, aided by apathetic and worn-out screams, incites no fear, perhaps except for the grinding violin plots that animate the scene. In "Santuario di Sangue" only Aaron's singing is saved, incredibly high (for his standards, of course) and intense, but behind the scenes lies a worrying lack of ideas, composed of disorienting melodies in their banality. And what about the concluding track "Death Triumphant"? Discontinuous, terribly long-winded, and irritating in its confused and awkward march. A mess in which MDB give the impression of not knowing where the hell to bang their heads.

To summarize the situation: the album primarily lacks in atmospheres, rather limited and not very dynamic, while hesitant songwriting risks weighing down the rest of the defects. In FLIS ideas are missing or, even worse, are poorly developed, in music and also in the lyrics, lacking the passionate and cryptic, dark charm of times gone by.

Despite all this, the positive side that remains from these long 60 minutes is the class of the band, which in some tracks (especially the first three, indeed), although far from the usual standards, has not been lost at all; you can tell that My Dying Bride is playing on the stage, perhaps a bit tired and faded by time, but they are still them, and I still hold them in high regard. In any case, those like me who loved the real masterpieces of the Bride, will find themselves listening tirelessly to them for the thousandth time, outshining the listens of this rather bad “For Lies I Sire”, which will, in all likelihood, end up forgotten with the arrival of upcoming (hopefully better) releases.

Can we perhaps say that the Bride is truly dying?
[Rating 6.5/10]