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Rating: There are records that you may or may not like, that can move those who listen, that can make you reflect, albums to listen to quickly on the beach or while jogging, and albums that need time to be fully absorbed. And then there are records that can only and solely be adored in all their beauty, without any other possibility: this is the case of "Turn Loose The Swans".
The first and unforgettable masterpiece by My Dying Bride saw the light in 1993, a year of fundamental importance for the entire modern doom metal scene, around which very important works for this movement would emerge, like the early albums of Anathema, Paradise Lost, and Cathedral ("In Memoriam" from 1991 and "Forest Of Equilibrium" from 1992).
Yet, amidst this sea of important releases, the light of "Turn Loose The Swans" shines brighter than the others; splendid, magnificent, of an inconceivable beauty, it is one of the most important works in '90s metal. A work of art, to be adored in all its completeness, in all its magnificence. A work that starts with the piano and violin notes of "Sear Me MCMXCIII", with the splendid soundscape by Martin Powell, who would remain in the band lineup (a sextet at the time of this album) until "Like Gods Of The Sun" where he would offer his last contribution; all supporting Aaron's slow and warm voice, in perfect form, which seems to want to embrace the listener with his vocal cords. Then you hear strings being plucked, slowly... "Your River" has begun. The tension rises when the blind fury of the guitars comes to break the idyll that this hypnotic intro managed to create; it is thus that a continuous series of riffs, all different and each more beautiful than the last, advances unrelentingly beneath a psychotic violin until this stormy sea seems to stop to make way for Aaron's singing, tremendously evocative. Without a doubt, with its splendid riffs, its progressions, the atmosphere it is able to evoke, "Your River" is one of My Dying Bride's best songs.
No less interesting, however, is "The Songless Bird", where an atmospheric intro gives way to tremendously slow and heavy doom riffs that stun and leave you unable to react (enough to make Cathedral pale), until the song rises in tone splendidly. Another masterpiece of the album is "The Snow In My Hand", a simply perfect song that best encapsulates the essence of My Dying Bride, from a terribly slow and melancholic initial guitar riff then supported by the vocals to violent death metal attacks, from powerful and destructive riffs to scenarios of absolute desolation, up to the finale which reprises the initial riff but this time supporting it with a melancholic and inspired violin, which closes the song and leaves us petrified. Following is "The Crown Of Sympathy", one of Bride's most famous songs (also available in a remixed version in the EP collection "Trinity"): this time Aaron truly delivers a grand performance. It is his voice that directs the game, creating hypnotic music with guitar riffs that stop, slow down, and become more aggressive, in a play of light and shadow that takes your breath away, with the violin making everything more melodic and romantic, up to a finale of pure and melancholic desolation. Then it's the moment of "Turn Loose The Swans": at the first riff of this superb song, my blood ran cold. The song's progression is a pure fusion of violent death metal and heavy doom; but when everything stops, when I hear the guitars laying out a carpet of dramatic melancholy and Aaron uttering "You are sweet and fine to listen to," the emotional intensity is hard to control. Needless to talk about the rest of the song: it will be difficult to keep your emotions in check until the end, a wonderful drum breakdown that closes the piece beautifully.
We reach the last song, "Black God," exhausted: but it is worth listening to, because, in their tradition, the Bride closes this masterpiece with a song that is slow, romantic, and indescribably evocative, all sustained by piano and Martin Powell's splendid violin rendering our dreams tangible, by Aaron's voice and Zena's intervention, with a truly fitting female choral voice on this occasion.
Finally, it's worth noting the presence of three bonus tracks: "Le Cerf Malade" (also found in "Trinity"), the violent "Transcending," and the wonderful "Your Shameful Heaven," presented here in a live version.
Unclassifiable, indescribable, unforgettable, and therefore unmissable. To be loved to madness.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Sear Me MCMXCIII (07:23)
Pour yourself into me
Our time approaches so near, that I sign.
What danger in such an adorer?
We dance and the music dies.
We carry them all away
As we glide through their lost eyes.
You lift me above myself
With the ghostly lake of your mind.
Arise from your slumber in my arms.
Your beauty took the strength from me.
In the meadows of heaven
We run through the stars.
Romantic in our tastes.
We are without excuse.
We burn in our lust.
We die in our eyes and drown in our arms.
02 Your River (09:23)
Your bloodied body is what I cling to.
In powerful rain, they laid down their heads to die.
Let your dark, thirsty eyes drink deep the sights of me.
It's sad that, in our blindness, we gather thorns for flowers.
Your river holds a feast of danger.
The suffering you have had to bear.
I'd die for that moment one more time.
The loved one falls below your ideals.
Pleasure too safely enjoyed lacks zest.
The brave lick their sickening lips.
Rigid, handsome and a poet.
A king in his passionate castle.
Where now?
Feed me!
Hold me!
Save me!
Save yourself!
Where now?
Which way?
Dear god, show me.
Take your own.
Struggle free!
Arise!
You're Ruined!
Stand down!
Your kin, piled thick around you.
Save yourself!
04 The Snow in My Hand (07:09)
I've seen them. so dark.
Black.
And yet fine.
The flower they carry had once been mine.
Get away from me, man of stories.
Robe of lies.
Stay far from me.
I lie to myself (it's not hurting).
I need help, but not from you or your father.
No! Jesus Christ.
Who's my saviour?
Lose myself in gods death.
No!
I can't bear all this pain.
I had watched the snow all day.
Falling.
It never lets up.
All day falling.
I lifted my voice and wept out loud, "So this is life?"
05 The Crown of Sympathy (12:15)
See the light and feel my warm desire, run through my veins like the evening sun.
It will live but no eyes will see it.
I'll bless your name before I die.
No person in everything can shine, yet shine you did, for the world to see.
All a man hath will he give for life?
For life that's lost bleeds all over me.
I'd fallen before but it never hurt like this.
Don't leave me here to crawl through the mire.
I'm without fault before the throne of god.
Take from me the crown of sympathy.
What do you think you'll see?
What do you think there will be?
Sit down!
Did you see the sun?
What will we become?
Great ones?
The mouths that dare not speak his name, behold them, raised, complete and fine.
The battle for our lives is oh, so brief.
Take my hand and please walk with me.
When I was young the sun did burn my face.
I let its love and warmth wash over me.
The melting voice of many, in the hush of night.
Whispering tongues can poison my honest truth.
Come dress me with your body, and comfort me.
I dreamt of a dead child in my sleep.
I wear a terrible mark in my head.
My clean, white bed.
It calls to me.
I must lie down.
And I want you to lay with me, in sympathy.
No sad "adieus" on a balcony.
For one last time, just walk with me.
At the beautiful gate of the temple, we must be saved.
For deadened, icy pain, covers all the earth.
06 Turn Loose the Swans (10:08)
So little of what we observe, is the girl herself.
Elaborate, scented coiffers.
Adieu d'amour.
Vast is the heirs ballroom.
Let the rich give you presents.
Heaven pours from her throat, as she sings and as she dances.
The fumes of rich swine, honeyglazed and dripping, playing in the air.
My mouth eager and wishing.
But I return to this nightingale.
Her hair all fiery red.
Deep it is and wild.
My weakness will be fed.
Boys whipped on the alter of diana, sometimes until they died.
The cunning wily merchant, and his four crippled horses.
Tales told in warlike manner.
The storyteller by the fire.
While musing deeply on this sight, the songster stirred my desire.
You are sweet and fine to listen to.
Long tresses about her neck.
Yet much is false.
This mighty evening, I've seen no face.
This is crushing me.
My quill it aches.
Turn loose the swans that drew my poets craft.
I'll dwell in desolate cities.
You burned my wings.
I leave this ode, splendid victorious through the carnage.
I wanted to touch them all.
I wanted to touch them all.
09 Transcending (Into the Exquisite) (08:37)
If I live you will be sorry
I have a thousand forms
If I live you will be sorry
Uninjured by your tongue
If I live you will be sorry
I have a thousand forms
If I live you will be sorry
Uninjured by your tongue
We've lived with our suffering
But now...?
If I live you will be sorry
I have a thousand forms
If I live you will be sorry
I'm working to ensnare you
My desire
Turn loose the swans
If I live you will be sorry
I have a thousand forms
If I live you will be sorry
I'm working to ensnare you
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