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Rating: "Like Gods Of The Sun": no title could be more unfounded. Indeed, it is difficult to find a ray of light in the sound of this album, which is as nocturnal as it gets. I specify, nocturnal, not dark: certainly, there is an underlying darkness, but one of the many qualities of My Dying Bride, who we all know to be one of the greatest gothic metal bands ever, is their ability to be decadent, dark, melancholic, aggressive, and incredibly seductive without ever losing freshness, both compositionally and in terms of sound: for this reason, listening to one of their albums is always a unique pleasure.
This "Like Gods Of The Sun" is certainly no exception, for which all the adjectives mentioned above apply; some have called it a bland album, others a wonderful one; I believe it is a beautiful work, certainly one of the best albums of the dying bride; more or less, the problem is that I cannot call it a masterpiece due to some aspects such as the repetitiveness of certain riffs and melodies ("For You"), or some passages that seem to be played with little conviction. But these are just small aspects that prevent it from being a masterpiece, yet they don't stop it from being a splendid album: slow, understated, full of seductive melodies, where strings, violins, and pianos blend with the group's aggressive tones, with a distorted, slow, fierce, heavy guitar, almost brutal in some passages, as in "It Will Come" or "Like Gods Of The Sun". The notes follow one another, making listening to the album a dreamlike journey that is difficult to describe, with Aaron's voice creating almost a sort of sonic vampirism.
There aren't particular standout tracks, but all the songs as a whole are beautiful; a special mention goes to "For My Fallen Angel" where the guitars disappear and it is the sound of a violin that takes the lead, combined with keyboards and Aaron's voice, creating an atmosphere full of enchanting notes, melancholic and tremendously evocative. "Like Gods Of The Sun", while not reaching the grandeur of previous albums like "Turn Loose The Swans" or "The Angel And The Dark River", is a must-have, like the entire discography of My Dying Bride. Every other word is superfluous.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Like Gods of The Sun (05:41)
I live for your fond caresses
Songs you sing to me
Gather me up into your arms
I need no-one just you
You fill me up with dark thoughts of you
The Devil talks to me when you're touching me
My lust it burns, deep inside of you
Together we are as one
We live our lives in passion
Full up with thirst I drink your
Light and beauty for always
Open your arms hold me closely
Never let me fall
Wrapped up in you. Comforting me
I could die here
You fill me up with dark thoughts of you
The Devil talks to me, when you're touching me
My lust it burns, deep inside of you
Paradise pales compared to you
We burn like Gods of the Sun
Never will we be alone
Our world will change for no-one
And as our live are closing
We lie close and hear nothing
08 Here in the Throat (06:21)
I need him
To wash me of my sin
To take me from this place
To heal me of my wounds
I need him
To clean your mark off me
To wipe you from my eyes
To strike you from my heart
I need him
I know, not what, I do or say
But I, do what, I say and believe
You need him
To take you from this place
To heal you from your wounds
You need him
To clean my mark off you
To wipe me from your eyes
To strike me from your heart
You need him
You are, nothing to me, anymore
I hope, I mean, nothing to you
I want a place to hide, somewhere far from your side
There is no stopping you, there's nothing you won't do
You're killing for your God, the stench that you
have trod
The world is black to you, until you slay me too
I'm wasted under you, I meant nothing at all
Thank God I wasted you, no longer will I fall
I will live again
your grasp on me has gone
your downfall and your end
At last my peace has come
Before I end let me tell you
Never lay down for anyone at all
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Other reviews
By Hell
"An album with a dark and almost enigmatic cover but beyond that it has absolutely nothing worthwhile to say."
"Aaron... ends up becoming a caricature of himself with a voice so syrupelley dramatic that it seems that of a walrus with a tracheostomy and an electroencephalogram in the intestine."
