THE VOICE OF THE WRETCHED

Dark symphonic prog......

My Dying Bride went out and released this live album with some tracks from the first six albums. Most of the tracks here are their darkest and most symphonic tracks. The feeling of gloom, death and sadness is the overriding feeling. Maybe it is a good idea to avoid this album if you are suicidal....... or make that Must Avoid.

Some of the best My Dying Bride songs are gathered here. Turn Loose The Swans, Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium and Cry Of Mankind is the better ones here. I am missing their most symphonic prog songs, with the exception of Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium, on this album. But I guess songs like Seer Me cannot be presented live. So that is an obvious limitation. I am not happy with the inclusion of the song from 34.7 which I feel is not fitting this live album. The rest of this live album is excellent. Don't buy/ listen to it if you are suicidal because this live album is very gloomy. But for the rest of us; this is a very good live album.

4 stars

'Voice Of The Wretched' shows the band live at the 013 in Tilburg on 4th March 2001 and while it doesn't manage to totally convey all of the emotion that is present in the studio album it proves that the band are much more than just a heads down and riff act. Yes there are plenty of guitars at massive volume, with death metal vocals aplenty (listen to the powering "She Is The Dark"), but there is also a considerable amount of space in their music. This gives the brutality an even harsher edge that is missing from many other bands that try to match this level of darkness. It is not quite there is the sound front but as an overview of the band's history it shows why they have such a faithful following.

Originally appeared in Feedback #70, Oct 02

The first My Dying Bride live album takes in songs from a wide range of their albums - their debut, As the Flower Withers, isn't represented but most others are - and finds the band sounding live much as they do in the studio. On the one hand, you may feel that makes the live album redundant, on the other hand that is at least a testimony of how well they were able to capture their live energy in the studio.

The sound quality feels a bit fuzzy at points, but at least when it comes to this sort of death-doom metal that sort of murkiness is actually aesthetically appropriate to some extent. Good, but not essential.