Album Details

• Artist: My Dying Bride
• Album: Like Gods Of The Sun
• Label: Peaceville Records
• Year of Release: 1996
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2013-01-31

On their fourth full-length venture, Gothic-Doom frontrunners My Dying Bride would produce an effort that would mark the end of what many fans consider their first "era". Like Gods Of The Sun is the last MDB record to feature original drummer Rick Miah and longtime collaborating musician Martin Powell, and the music would take a drastic shift in the immediate wake of these departures. However, Like Gods Of The Sun makes ample use of the chemistry the band had formed over many years together.

The most surprising aspect of the record lies in the lack of cohesivenss. Despite containing many more "stand-alone" tracks, with vastly improved songwriting in terms of hooks and memorable moments, Like Gods of the Sun somehow ends up feeling more like a collection of singles than it does a continuous experience. This is what made their prior two records truly remarkable ventures, but it also signifies a side of the band that would show itself in various doses from here on out. The title track meanders until a chilling arc of distorted organs and Aaron Stainthorpe's choked verse merge into a fantastic chorus. "The Dark Caress" is about as heavy as My Dying Bride would dare to go at the time, crunching forward with hammered riffs and starkly contrasting breakdowns. "Grace Unhearing" is all chorus, with one of Aaron's better vocal melodies present. "A Kiss To Remember" has received a major amount of attention since, prominent in the band's live setlist, but it never really appealed to me that much. It centers around guitar leads and the occasinal accompanying violin bit, staples of the band's sound, but it feels flat and uninspired to my ears. The dark, uptempo and sharply accentuated chorus of "All Swept Away" and the beautifully performed "For You" represent the pinnacle of the record, and remain some of the band's finest moments to this day.


There is just too much to like about Like Gods Of The Sun to discredit it to any great degree. It may just be a personal note regarding lack of cohesion throughout, because the style never really shifts from one track to the next. Or, more probably so, it is because certain songs shine far and about others in a way that creates inequality throughout the record. Regardless, Like Gods Of The Sun is a worthwhile and memorable addition to My Dying Bride's gloom and doom-laced discography.  

 EDIT: I forgot to mention prior, but if you're ever at the end of your rope and can't seem to find the will to go on, don't listen to "For My Fallen Angel", the closing track of this record. It won't help. In fact, the end result of listening to it, depending on the listener, might be exactly what I mentioned here.

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