In 1990, Aaron, Andy, Calvin and Rick formed MY DYING BRIDE and after only six months, the quartet from West Yorkshire already released its demo Towards The Sinister that is nowadays considered a real classic. And while their first 7" single God Is Alone was still released under the flag of the French label Listenable, the British record company Peaceville Records soon discovered the band’s unique style and offered them a deal.
The first release from this team-up was the EP Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium that featured the bands new member Ade on bass and soon they gained international attention with their first album As The Flower Withers.
Their second EP also became a success and even though their first headliner tour through Europe had to be cancelled at the last minute, since drummer Rick got injured while shooting a music video, their doom waltzes couldn’t be stopped anymore and this particular video even made it to MTV and pitchforked the EP high into the Kerrang charts.
As they recruited classically trained violin and piano player Martin Powell as a full time member, they were already praised as doom metal pioneers and with their second album Turn Loose The Swans in 1993, they received massive praise, but never rested on their success and so their legendary third album The Angel And The Dark River was released in ’95. With epic long tracks and intensively depressing atmosphere, this release is still considered a classic and saw them invited to play shows with Iron Maiden, while being a part of England’s Golden Three of doom metal together with Paradise Lost and Anathema.
Only a year later, Like Gods of the Sun followed and even though a cleaner and calmer sound soon found its way into MY DYING BRIDE’s music, they never abandoned their death metal roots and joined forces with Dio to play an extensive US tour. But unfortunately it was again drummer Rick who suffered a debilitating illness and was eventually forced to leave the band. Help came in the form of Bill Law, drummer of MY DYING BRIDE’s label mates Dominion, and soon the writing for their fifth album 34.788%... Complete started.
Around that time violinist Martin also left the band. The album was as different as the title suggests, and even though the band dared to create a different style and experimented with their sound, their sales stayed on a healthy level. Unfortunately their bad luck with drummers consisted and after another line-up change, the Brits created their sixth full length release The Light At The End Of The World that guided them back to their roots.
In the year 2000, MY DYING BRIDE were already able to look back on an impressive career as avant-garde doomsters and released Meisterwerk I and Meisterwerk II which both included rare tracks, live versions an demos, before their seventh album The Dreadful Hours saw the light of day in 2001 and with several guest musicians, they once again crafted a pure piece of perfection and eternal sadness, or as guitar master Andrew would describe it: "I'm trying to create an atmosphere of angst, of almost relentless misery. So much misery that you just can't take it"
In 2002, the first live DVD was released and contained 2.5 hours of material, including a stunning live performance from Krakow, several other live performances and a chance to peek at vocalist Aaron's stunning collection of artwork. Shortly after, the live CD The Voice Of The Wretched followed.
Songs Of Darkness, Words of Light would then become the band’s eighth studio album in 2004 and for this CD, they finally shot their second music video ever. At the end of 2004, MY DYING BRIDE got together with artist and video director Dave Palser - they originally worked with Dave on the video 'Cry Of Mankind', always hailed as the best MY DYING BRIDE video until this day. Due to the success of the Prize Of Beauty, they decided to make a second video with Dave for the Blue Lotus. It was completed in early 2005 and featured heavily on the biggest metal music channels.
September 2005 marked the release of MY DYING BRIDE's second DVD entitled Sinamorata, which included live footage filmed at Antwerp's Hof Ter Lo, along with the two new promo videos and some clips shot by fans.
In spring 2006, the band entered Academy Studios again to record A Line of Deathless Kings, this time with John Bennett from The Prophecy on drums and longtime friend and producer Mags on the recording seat again. The album was mixed at The Chapel in Lincolnshire and mastered at the famous Abbey Road studios.
But since My Dying Bride have never been lucky with their drummers, John Bennett as well as bassist Adrian left the band and replacements Lena Abé and Dan Mullins were announced prior to the first concerts of the year. Much to the surprise of the fans, they also re-introduced violins to their music with new member Katie Stone and played legendary shows together with their famous doom colleagues ANATHEMA and PARADISE LOST in Paris and London.
Soon their work on the album 'For Lies I Sire' was also fully completed and till this day, it is considered one of the greatest highlights in the band’s musical career. Poetically, dark and gloomy, MY DYING BRIDE once again prove that they were the masters of doom metal and to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the album Evinta was released and presented some re-worked material to their loyal fans.
A Map of All Our Failures was released in 2012 and on this full length piece, the band delivered a raw sound with rough elements, but their typical atmosphere stayed the same and Andrew would later describe it as "a controlled demolition of all your hopes."
After another line-up change, they released their latest masterpiece “Feel The Misery” in 2015 and played selected show, before they now announced their signing to Nuclear Blast. After 27 years in the music scene, MY DYING BRIDE are a dark monumental pillar that always stayed loyal to their depressive and beautifully miserable sound. Currently writing on new material, the band is now off to new shores…
Aaron Stainthorpe (Vocals)
Andrew Craighan (Guitar)
Neil Blanchett (Guitar)
Jeff Singer (Drums)
Lena Abé (Bass)
Shaun Macgowan (Keyboards / Violin)
