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Album Details

• Artist: My Dying Bride
• Album: A Line Of Deathless Kings
• Label: Peaceville Records
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2013-03-13

Further progressing into their third distinguishable era, My Dying Bride followed up a somewhat lackluster previous effort with A Line Of Deathless Kings, which seemed to meet with a more favorable response in general. This album would mark additional lineup changes for the band, as longtime drummer Shaun Steels would depart immediately before recording (replaced briefly by The Prophecy's John Bennet) and original bassist Adrian Jackson would be replaced post-recording by Lena Abé.


The rhythm section doesn't suffer noticably by Steel's departure, and on the whole A Line Of Deathless Kings shows a more inspired, but somewhat subdued, My Dying Bride. My lasting issue with the majority of the band's material in the past decade has been a lack of cohesiveness; this is still a problem here, but the album's stronger moments do well to sustain it.  Opener "To Remain Tombless" throws around some excellent melodies and is topped off by an extremely aggressive (by the band's standards, of course) closing passage. "L'Amour détruit" fills 9 minutes admirably, featuring thick, organic riffs and a particularly catchy bass line during certain verses. While self-loathing and the bitterness of lost love have long been typical themes of vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe's repetoire, A Line Of Deathless Kings seems to be almost entirely focused on such matters. His vocals are still a thing to behold, a totally unique catch in the throat that draws out the poison of his lyrics. The best tracks to behold include centerpiece "And I Walk With Them" and the well-crafted closer "The Blood, The Wine, The Roses".


What really draws this record down isn't a lack of cohesiveness. In fact, A Line Of Deathless Kings feels a bit more like a fully inspired and organic release than most in their discography. No, what really bogs this one down is that about half of the album is, to put it bluntly, forgettable. One of My Dying Bride's secret weapons are their ability to wield cleverly disguised hooks and pop-centric melodies behind a vast wall of bitter emotion. This doesn't quite shine through A Line of Deathless Kings as much as on previous records, but it is overall solid enough to warrant a place in any dedicated fan's collection.

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