Search - My Dying Bride :: 34.788% Complete

My Dying Bride Testing New Ground

Noyce | Santa Cruz, Ca | 04/08/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It seems most bands have at least one album that comes with a disclaimer. Either this album 1) is realy awful or 2) just doesn't fit in with the natural progression of things. 34.7888% is that album for MDB. 34.7888% is the only MDB album that doesn't fit under the doom metal umbrella. And its true, if you listen to exclusivly to doom metal this album will disapoint you quite a bit. However this has caused this album to be unjustly put under the #1 disclaimer as well. After releasing the medocre "Like Gods of the Sun," change seemed to be the inevitable for My Dying Bride. First drummer Rick Miah, one of the best I've ever heard, came down ill and could no longer play. Then Martin the brilliant violinist/keyboardest, chose to leave the band. You see 34.7888% is guitarist Calvins brainchild, as he wrote almost all of the music. Seeing that all the music had already been composed and seeing there was little for him to add musicly Martin left MDB (unfortunatly going to Cradle of Filth). Having lost two crucial elements to the MDB sound, it could only be expected that MDB would release a complete let down, but on the contrary Calvin had created an all new and exciting sound for MDB.While 34.7888% still feels dark for the most part, it doesn't have the sombre depressed vibe of the other MDB works, but rather a dark sinister feeling, like some dirty person one would meet in a an ally way in some big metroploitin city. All the other MDB albums have a very ancient feeling to them as if they took place far in the past, this one however feels more like it takes place in 2050. This album may also be conbsidered more mainstream than the other MDB albums, though this is highly over exadurated. How many mainstream albums have a total of seven songs and start with a 13 minute peice?34.7888% starts with the dark, wicked "The Mother, Cook and the Whore," where Aarons vocals sound more evil than usualy thanks to some help from some electronic effects. After several minutes the song sinks down into a beutiful ambiant layered movemet, where one can hear Aaron talking to a cousiler while beutiful minor chords are softly plucked on guitar. Eventaly the song blasts back into full gear as Aaron continues on one of the main theme of this album, his using of women. The song is a higly creative concept: a man singing about his abuse of women, then talking to his counciler about what caused it. The next song "The Stance of Evander Sinoue" is good song witrh cruchy riffs and some great psudo strings. "Der Uberlebende" is the softest track on here with angelic style metal riffs and Aaron shows the more voneralble side of his voice. "Heroine Chic" is probably the most talked about track on here. Its a very electronica influenced song that tells stories of desperate heroine addicts in need of drungs. The whole song has that very dark grungy ally way aura I was talking about earilier. There are some real good riffs on here too, so if you are an opened mineded metal head you should enjoy this song. "Apocalipse Woman" is the weakest track on here, it just doesn't do much for me. "Base Level Erotica," is a dark, raunchy song about groupiues. Aaron seems confused in this song wheather the dozens of women throwing themselves at him is a blessing or a curse. The album ends brilliantly with "Under Your Wings and Into Your Arms" On the previous album MDB tried time and time again to pull off the fast paced song with clean vocals, but fell on their face time and time again. Here they pull off a (realitivly) near pefast paced song damn rfictly. There is also a very strong keyboard breakdown in this song.All in all this album has been very unfairly judged by closed minded fans. This is actualy a solid album with spots of brilliance, showing My Dying Bride going into new territory. Unfortunatly the massive backlash led to a major regression on the "play it safe" (though still good) "The Light at the End of the World." Calvin also left the band after this album feeling he had completed his musical dream. This also could have led to the return of the old MDB sound. Either way they wouldn't explode into thier old selves on "The Light..." but rather on the follow up "The Dreadful Hours"."

The album hardcore fans apologise for

BD Obsessor | South of the equator | 11/29/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"My god, something went horribly wrong with this album. If there is a moral to the story about how it got out of the studio, then here it is - completely negative inspirations for creative work are very bad ground on which to start. The band faced the loss of two of its members - one of whom had become inextricably linked with them as their trademark. The record company that was in charge of their record company was putting massive financial pressure upon them. In short, one member says it all when they state that they made this album just to prove they could get it out.Which is a very bad thing to do when you're in the business of making music so elite that it serves as the perfect antidote to the repetitive tyranny that is pop.Song number one suffers for being dragged out well past its welcome, sustaining nearly twelve minutes of play when it barely has enough material to stay interesting for six. Of the seven songs that make up the album, number two is the only one that can be considered good. A simple concept, hard-punching rhythms combined with a beautiful keyboard presence, The Stance Of Evander Sinque is literally the ONLY reason to have this album, and there is one song here that convinces me that less hardcore fans than myself (ie the other 99.99 percent) could live without it anyway.Songs three through seven are literally abortions. They were just coughed up and thrown onto the album to fill space. Waste of space doesn't even begin to describe them, and I am speaking as a massive fan of this band! But the most insulting blow to the face that fans suffered in 1997 was a little pile called Heroin Chic. As soon as Aaron starts singing things like "Nah nah yeah yeah yeah", fans everywhere spat out their drink and screamed that this was the sort of imagination-less dribble that they got into My DyING BRIDE in order to get away from. And that, more than anything, is why the band themselves should delete this album, rerelease The Stance Of Evander Sinque as a bonus track, then claim this abortion is the work of lame imposters."

Experimental, Excellent Masterpiece

mono | 01/19/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't understand how MDB fans can say this album is terrible. My dying bride has always been experimental. This album is a pinnacle of that experimental side of them.
Any MDB fan who can appreciate music of different tastes can certainly enjoy this album. It has all of the elements of classic MDB, just a different sound to it... it's a bit noisier...it's just different to their albums, just as "Turn Loose the Swans" is completely different to "Like Gods of the Sun." (personally I find Gods of the Sun their least exciting album - 34.788...% blows that CD out of the water)Every song on this CD is another MDB classic to my ears.
If you enjoy diversity, and not the same old rehashed music (which is a good reason to listen to my dying bride in the first place - DIVERSITY) - then get this CD. Hopefully the band will release another, more experimental album soon."