TRINITY

Trinity is as the title may reveal a compilation album with some old EPs. Most of these EPs are out of print after their record label Music For Nations ceased to be.... although I may be wrong here. Actually, My Dying Bride was signed on Peaceville, a sublabel of MFN. I believe Peaceville still excists as a record label under the Snapper umbrella.

Those interested in the most interesting and progressive part of My Dying Bride's discography should check out Trinity. It's opener Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium is alone worth the purchase of this album. It is a mighty Wagnerian piece of music with some nods to the symphonic prog bands like ELP. Another good reason to get Trinity is the The Thrash of Naked Limbs and The Sexuality of Bereavement opuses.

There are some duds included on this compilation too. B sides on EPs, they are called. But the above mentioned songs are superb and the main reason why My Dying Bride twenty years ago was the pioneers of symphonic avant-garde metal.

3 stars

TRINITY is one of the earliest compilations albums from MY DYING BRIDE released the year after their very first 'The Stories.' It is in fact basically the same album as 'The Stories' which compiled the band's three earliest EPs ' Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium,' ' The Thrash Of Naked Limbs ' and 'I Am The Bloody Earth' all in one handy one-stop shop product. While 'The Stories' was more of a collector's boxed set of sort with special packaging and limited to 3000 copies, TRINITY has been the easiest way to obtain all three EPs without resorting to great expense. The two comps are essentially the same product musically speaking with one glaring exception and an important one it is.

Whereas 'The Stories' contained the EPs ' Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium,' ' The Thrash Of Naked Limbs ' and 'I Am The Bloody Earth' in their authentic original forms, for some strange reason MY DYING BRIDE decided to jettison the track 'Transcending (Into The Exquisite)' from the 'I Am The Bloody Earth' EP and replace it with the track 'The Sexuality Of Bereavement' which was a non- album single that was released the previous year. While i am in agreement that 'Sexuality' is a far superior track to 'Transcending' i'm left a little perplexed why the former was nixed instead of simply adding the former to the authentic trilogy of EPs from this early stage of the band's career thus not making it a completely authentic experience. Unfortunately the 'Transcending' track has been completely written off and hasn't even found a home on the following comps including the 'Meisterwerk' releases.

The reason for disowning this track seems a little disheartening since despite not being the highlight of the band's career nevertheless is an authentic part of it even though it does have more of an industrial metal feel and is different than most of their other material. Despite this slight irritation i have to accept this album for what it is and what it is happens to be an outstanding display of a very talented death-doom metal band who knew how to construct some of the most beautifully depressing compositions of the day with such masterpieces as the track 'Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium.' TRINITY remains the most readily available way to obtain all the early EPs minus one track and is an interesting way to experience the band evolution from the early doom metal band with death metal outbursts to the more familiar symphonic death-doom band as heard in their early years. Still a brilliant flow of music despite the faux pas of a single track exclusion.

"Trinity" is a compilation album by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. The compilation was released through Peaceville Records in September 1995. The original version features material from the band's first three EPs: "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium (1992)", "The Thrash of Naked Limbs (1993)", and "I Am the Bloody Earth (1994)" and the A-side track from "The Sexuality of Bereavement (1994)" single. The 2004 re-release features "Vast Choirs" and "Catching Feathers" from the "Towards the Sinister (1990)" demo as bonus material (and a different cover artwork).

The idea to release "Trinity" was great as the three EPs were either out of print, or released in a limited number of copies, which made it hard for the fans to purchase them. There are also quite a few listeners who don't bother with EPs because of the relatively short running times, and that's a problem you don't experience here as "Trinity" (the original version) features 9 tracks and a full playing time of 64:16 minutes.

The quality of the material is a bit up and down though. "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium (1992)" is a pre- album release, and it's obvious at this point, that My Dying Bride were slightly immature as songwriters, and that they were still searching for a unique identity. The title track from the EP is where you'll hear most nods toward the sound on the debut album. Especially the sections which feature violin. Ultra doomy riffs, melancholic violin themes, and growling vocals in front. The two shorter tracks from the "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium (1992)" are pretty standard quality mid-paced death metal tracks, which are both decent, but not really great.

Out of the three tracks from the "The Thrash of Naked Limbs (1993)", it's the title track and to a lesser degree "Gather Me Up Forever", which are worth the price of admission. The ambient and atmospheric "Le Cerf Malade" isn't that interesting and honestly I think it's a typical EP filler track.

"I Am the Bloody Earth (1994)" originally featured three tracks but Transcending (Into the Exquisite) which is a remix by Stevie Dachau featuring elements from various tracks from "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)" is omitted on "Trinity". Instead the title track and Crown of Sympathy (Remix) are accompanied by the A-side from "The Sexuality of Bereavement (1994)" single. A track which was also included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipack version of "The Angel and the Dark River (1995)" (but recorded during the sessions for "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)"). Transcending (Into the Exquisite) isn't the most interesting track, so it's no big loss that it has been left out of this compilation. Crown of Sympathy (Remix) isn't very interesting either though, as it more or less sounds like someone just put the drum track through a chorus effect and not much else. I much prefer the original version from "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)". Both "I Am the Bloody Earth" and "The Sexuality of Bereavement" are pretty decent quality tracks though.

So there are both some quality material on the compilation, some more standard quality material and even a couple of pretty redundant tracks. "Trinity" does serve it's purpose well though, as it helps increase the availability of hard to get non- album material and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)