TOWARDS THE SINISTER

"Towards the Sinister" is the first demo recording by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. It´s the band´s first and only demo release and it was independently released in February 1991 (originally on cassette tape). The band were at this point a four-piece consisting of Aaron Stainthorpe on vocals, Andrew Craighan on guitars and keyboards, Calvin Robertshaw on guitars, and Rick Miah on drums.

The demo contains four tracks and a total playing time of 23:27 minutes. Both "The Grief of Age" and "Catching Feathers" are exclusive to this release while re-recorded and re-arranted versions of "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" and "Vast Choirs" would appear on subsequent studio releases by the band. The former on the "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" (1992) EP while the latter would appear on My Dying Bride´s debut full-length studio album "As The Flower Withers" (1992). While there are certainly crushingly heavy and doomy parts on the demo, the paced is often mid-paced and there are even some faster sections in some songs. So this is definitely the fastest and most old school death metal release from My Dying Bride featuring only hints at what they would do only a few years down the line (that is ultra heavy and sollow filled doom/death metal). The vocals are predominantly deep growls although Stainthorpe adds a more raw and aggressive edge to some parts. His tortured clean vocal delivery would only appear on later releases.

While the music on the album is actually pretty solid compared to other releases in the genre from the early nineties, the production drags this demo down. The sound is muddy and not even close to being professional. I thought it was a rehearsal demo until I read that the demo was actually recorded and mixed in Nov. 24-25, 1990 at Revolver Studios, UK. So this is a warts and all type demo release, but there´s enough dark charm and gloomy promise here to warrant a 2.5 star (50%) rating.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

The rush of winter, its piles of snow and dark desolate street views motivated me to listen some old heavy metal records, and I got immersed to some feelings from early My Dying Bride albums. Hence some impression reports for your amusement.

This demo tape from 1990 has some interesting moments and feelings, though it is evident that it does not reach musically similar heights as the forthcoming releases with better production quality. One of their greatest composition for me is already present here as a beta version; Possibly the longer time spent on developing "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" has ensured the glory of later incarnations of this grim romantic epic. On this early version I liked the raw riff sequences and rustic minimal synths, though the later recordings achieve vaster amount of merits in my opinion. Especially the vocal arrangements appear here slightly clumsy.

"Vast Choirs" is also another highlight here for me - The effect of hollow glue sniffing intro evoking trashy fast guitar motives similar to early Carcass leads to a convincing slower riff passage with gloomy synthesizer enrichments. Structural approach to song composition philosophy isalso strongly present on this track, which succeeds fairly well in its dramaturgical curves, and also brings memories from the violent streets of youthhood powerfully back to my mind. The recording is also in my opinion here more working in its brutality than the forthcoming cleaner version on "As The Flower Withers".

The two other tracks are not so appealing, "The Grief of Age" being more straightforward death metal grinder with few slower licks in the end, and "Catching Feathers" balancing between full throttle smashing and whisper-accompanied guitar riff webs. The sounds of the recording are quite muddy, but pleasant ears open to old school lo-fi tones of early 1990's heavy metal sounds. In my opinion a good starting for succesful career with gothic romanticism, a journey which I personally felt ventured later to bit more duller and commercial straits.

Before MY DYING BRIDE released their attention getting single "God Is Alone" which got them a ticket in the club of the "Peaceville Three" (meaning they got a contract with Peaceville Records at the same time as Anathema and Paradise Lost), they released this one demo TOWARDS THE SINISTER all the way back in 1990 after the two main founders Aaron Stainthorpe and Andrew Craighan found some buddies in their native Bradford, England music scene and churned out some of the very first examples of death / doom metal.

This short demo contains four tracks with "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" clocking in at 8 minutes and 33 seconds thus already displaying a healthy dose of sophistication and progressive outlook at the very earliest stages of the band's formation. While the production quality is quite horrible as the band used older analog equipment, the music is already quite developed and sounds very much like the the death / doom metal heard on the debut album "As The Flower Withers" with long well thought out compositions and developments.

Like the first two death / doom metal releases by the band, this demo Stainthorpe only uses death growls for vocals. The guitars range from the Sabbath / Pentagram old school doom metal riffs to more energetic old school thrash and death metal riffs. While they haven't added their signature violin melancholy quite yet, the keyboards that are present are already adding that sombre lugubrious effect as to give the music a very unique identity.

"Symphonie Infernus" was re-recorded and released on their first release as an EP while "Vast Choirs" would be re-recorded and appear on "As The Flower Withers." TOWARDS THE SINISTER is hardly essential even for diehard fans even though the other two tracks "The Grief Of Age" and "Catching Feathers" were never re-recorded and placed upon other albums because all of the tracks were included on the "Meisterwerk" compilations. This demo was only ever released as a cassette and sounds like crap in the production department but a fun little listen for history's sake and of course, excellent music that was already quite accomplished.