10 Classic Albums That Celebrated Their 20th Anniversary In 2015

My Dying Bride – The Angel And The Dark River

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The Angel and the Dark River, the third release from Yorkshire death-doom-mongers My Dying Bride, made their comrades in the Peaceville 3 – Paradise Lost and Anathema – sound like a bunch of comedians out for a summer jolly in comparison!

At a running time of just over 52 minutes, this was an unremittingly bleak affair from beginning to end. The exquisite, doom laden tour de force that is “The Cry of Mankind” had Aaron Stainthorpe sounding like a man whose whole world was collapsing around him and its repeated ‘horror-film’ guitar line emphasised the torturous nature of this magnum opus. At the other end of the spectrum, “Your Shameful Heaven” had a riff that could have been the bastard child of Sabbath’s “Sympton of the Universe”; the only real change of tempo in this otherwise uniformly depressing collection of deliciously gothic doom classics.

The key to this albums great success was the immersive integration of Martin Powells violin and keyboards to the bands overall sound; the mournful wails leading to a cloying sense of claustrophobia throughout.

An album that may take repeated listens to reveal its many delights, The Angel and the Dark River‘s status as a defining moment in gothic doom remains undeniable.