For Week Ending:
11 August 2023

My Dying Bride - A Line Of Deathless Kings (2006)

[Doom Metal]

My Dying Bride is band that is hard to describe, but the term 'brutally beautiful' comes to mind. The band's music is both elegant and harmonious at the same time as being extreme and discordant. Generally their albums contain large sections of pure gothic misanthropy, but 'A Line Of Deathless Kings' took the band in the opposite direction. This album is still firmly planted in the destitute graveyard of doom metal, but gone are the long passages of sorrowful yawl - instead replaced with death metal intensity that is unusual for the band post their early demos. From the onset of the opener 'A Line Of Deathless Kings' it is clear this is a heavier album than usual, and even tracks like the tale of forlorn love 'L'amour Decruit' still have a massive doom sound rather than the soft passages the band is known for. In fact there is very little on the album that doesn't hammer its way into the listeners ears, and ending on the massive double hit of 'Deeper Down' and 'The Blood, The Wine, The Roses' is one of the best album closers of the era, or any era really.

Arist Information
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Along with Anathema and Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride were a forerunner of the death doom metal and gothic metal genres during the early 1990s. These bands comprise 'The Peaceville Three' as all were signed to Peaceville Records at the time.

Beatallica - Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band (2007)

[Comedy]

This review is aimed to be fun. A parody review of a Beatles vs Metallica mash-up band that take lyrics and music from both bands. It is incredibly impressive. These guys - Jaymez Lenninfield, Ringo Lars, Kliff McBurtney and Greg Hammeston are great musicians in their own right. From the very open of track 1, the title song, I gotta say they have pulled it off with Hetfield's sound. Brilliant. Of course you need to be familiar with both bands to appreciate this. Highlights for me are 'Blackened In The U.S.S.R.' - which starts with the 'Blackened' intro from Metallica and then shifts into the Beatles sound for their classic song. 'Sandman' where there again is a typical intro except for the bass, you know that is going to turn into something else 'Cashman'. There is a playoff with lyrics between to the two songs which is very smart. Also lyrics not related to each band such as 'For Horseman' where Larz needs to get more beers. They even include a mash of Cliff Burtons classic Anesthesia, with then turns into 'Birthday'. The highlight has to be 'Hey Dude' which talks about starting to be a shredder and to avoid posers, with callouts to 'Kip Winger' and 'Diamond Header'. Brilliant! Add a few more Lenninfield 'Yeehaahh's' and this is a release you will have you grinning from ear to ear.