My Dying Bride
Turn Loose The Swans

THE REVIEW

I'm ready to bet with everyone who reads this review that none of them will manage to listen to this album (if they ever do) without feeling at least a little scared. Listening to it feels like traveling through Darkness.
The melancholic notes of a piano accompanied by a violin and the mournful voice of Aaron Stainthorpe open this "Turn Loose The Swans," the second full-length of My Dying Bride and also one of their greatest masterpieces. The first track is SEAR ME MCMXCIII, a terrifying song, beautifully composed to convey that typical feeling of anguish that permeates the group's tracks (needless to say, the result has been more than achieved). The track proceeds somberly and fades away after seven minutes to introduce another masterpiece of genuine art: YOUR RIVER, which brings an atmosphere this time of sheer desperation, culminating in a sonic explosion at the end with the deadly Growl of the Singer adding a cursed touch to this Song. The entire album is imbued with existential unease that at certain points borders on pure cruelty and masochism, as in THE SONGLESS BIRD or in THE SNOW IN MY HAND.

The winning card of Turn Loose The Swans is undoubtedly the inclusion of some parts on the edge of pure Death Metal, which make the album very aggressive, slightly setting aside the romantic influences that will instead predominate in the future, making it almost unique and unmistakable.
Memorable is the never-ending THE CROWN OF SYMPATHY, which features an initial clean and almost moving vocal part, a terrifying dark-toned interlude (one of the most intense moments of the album, you'll barely manage not to tremble with fear) to end once again with the deepest sadness taking over. The album continues with the Title-Track, a piece that demonstrates how aggressive, even cruel, tracks can be composed without falling into the banality of many Brutal groups who, with their stupid lyrics and chaotic sounds, think they are the epitome of badness. The last track is BLACK GOD, the shortest on the album, a true funeral hymn, a symbol of decadence and Death. We have thus reached the end of the journey into Darkness. Relax and take a break.

Because the darkness that remains in the heart is something that will hardly leave you soon...