Reviews

New music from My Dying Bride is always an exciting experience for the listener, as it is never clear until the album starts if it will be a gothic and mournful album that tugs at the heartstrings with wails of pure sorrow, or a dark and heavy beast that lumbers and weighs upon your soul. Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light heads into the later, dripping with atmosphere and death metal tinged dirges. 'The Wreckage Of My Flesh' opens the album, and at nearly 9 minutes takes the listen through a number of moods and movements, from the crushing weight of the opening guitar work, to the church organ played through the lighter passages. It is paint by numbers My Dying Bride, without a doubt, but every moment is chained to that spot of pure despair that only this band can do so well. The heaviness continues on 'My Scarlet Sorrow', and some of the weightiest riffs of the album unfold throughout. It has moments of beauty, but like always with this band the tension of knowing they are fleeting is what makes the listen so intense. 'Catherine Blake' starts out as dirge, but by mid-way builds to an intensity that swallows the listener whole, with massive riffing carrying the growled vocals of Aaron Stainthorpe to places deep and dark. Make no mistake, this is a heavy album, possibly their heaviest to this point, and it takes no prisoners when songs like this one wind up. The musicianship is faultless, and this is the sound of a band that is still exploring what can be done within the guardrails they helped to set. 'The Prize Of Beauty' has a drumline that pummels in places, and 'The Blue Lotus' is full of down-tuned chugging that drives the song to even darker despair. The finale, 'A Doomed Lover' is the epitome of the style - a dirge of lost love with whispers and cries, intermingled before a musical background that builds to a wall of sound crescendo. My Dying Bride are not a band that will reinvent itself into anything new, but this isn't what the listener wants from the band. They excel in the style they perform, and they know this, so album upon album they build a funeral pyre to the sad and lonely, with just enough variation to make the album stand out from the one before. With Song Of Darkness, Words Of Light they have created a work that will stand the test of time as one of their best albums.

I think this album doesn't get the accolades it deserves. A young, obnoxious band from L.A. California simply putting their ego out there, releasing a couple of demos and E.P.s for those that would listen. At a point in time (early 90's) when the musical environment in the rock / metal space was undertaking a re-definition to the extreme. So much so that the music Tool were proposing just didn't fit anywhere. We talk about defining first full-length releases by bands that might define a genre. OK, you immediately look to the likes of Pearl Jam who did what they did. No explanation needed. I'd argue that Tool, through Undertow, as a first full-length release, put together a sound that was unique for the time. A mash of fast paced drumming by the now legendary Danny Carey, underpinned by a huge bass line that made your ears drums tingle. The guitar lines taking main stage as needed and then there comes the howling, enthusiastic, sometime depressing magic of one Maynard James Keenan on vocals. A preacher in his music just drives you into the overall sound Tool has to offer. If we look to the album song list, do your best to show me another record that can compete with the first 3 tracks on this record as the best commencement to an album. 'Intolerance' immediately introduces that underlying drum/bass sound that they become famous for on many albums to come. 'Prison Sex', although a bit in your face with the song topic, it switches to showing how Maynard applies his singing to the song lyrics. Brilliantly delivered this has us understanding in 2 tracks simply the range of the band, with so much more to come. Which brings us to 'Sober'. An amazing bass intro with a tempered intro to the song overall. And you soon find the reason for it. This is Maynard's song with some very strong messages to share as he deals with a friend that has a creative musical genius about him only when he is high. The hate with which this is made very clear in the song. As masterpiece and arguably the best track from the album. From here we shift into some perhaps more light-hearted approach. However still displaying that raw edge. The bass leading the way and Maynard providing the high points. They seem very tight in their delivery and hard to fault any tracks. Also, with very little low points. The rest of the album settles nicely into a rhythm they have made the listener comfortable with. I'd admit no particularly outstanding tracks from here on in, but equally the ice has been broken into their sound, so you simply need to sit back, relax and listen to the pavement set by the band in the first few tracks and follow the journey. My final advice, if you connected with this in anyway, do not miss what they have to offer 3 years later (1996). If you didn't like this, still take a listen. They were only getting started on their world domination with this record. Enjoy.