MEISTERWERK I

That's what this is and that's what this compilation album should had been christened. But they went for a misleading title instead. Masterpieces, it ain't.

This compilation album serves the purpose of releasing odds and ends from My Dying Bride's archives and vaults. This is by no mean a Greatest Hits compilation. This although the songs here are among the best songs My Dying Bride has ever done. The problem is that this is the demo versions of the songs.......... And those are pretty far away from being the finished article. The demo version of their early masterpiece Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium retains the skeleton and most pieces of the meat of this song. But it also lacks the thing that makes this song such a great song. Close, but no sigar. There is also a remix here of a great song which does it no favour whatsoever. The rest is OK, but with some pieces missing here and there.

This is an album strictly only for the fans of My Dying Bride. But I seriously doubts even they (well, "they" also includes myself) will find much joy on this compilation album. My Dying Bride is best enjoyed on their studio albums and their EPs.

2 stars

"Meisterwerk I" features a combination of album tracks, rare demo/single/limited edition bonus track recordings, and the video for "The Cry of Mankind" from "The Angel and the Dark River (1995)". If you already own the studio albums, tracks like "The Crown of Sympathy", "A Kiss to Remember", "For You", and "Sear Me III", may seem a bit redundant and it´s probably the rare recordings that´ll be of most interest. The versions of "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" and "The Grief of Age" from the "Towards the Sinister (1990)" demo, "Grace Unhearing (Portishell Mix)" which was a bonus track on the limited edition of "Like Gods of the Sun (1996)", and "Unreleased Bitterness", which is a rehearsal version of the track "The Bitterness and the Bereavement", originally released on a single, which was limited to 1.150 copies. Those four tracks and maybe the video for "The Cry of Mankind", are the attractions here.

So while there is nothing wrong with the quality of the material, you still have to ask yourself, if you´re willing to purchase this compilation if you already own the studio albums. You´ll be paying for four tracks and a video, and quality wise those four tracks are the weakest of the tracks on "Meisterwerk I". Overall I find "Meisterwerk I" to be a bit of a confusing release and the idea to combine regular studio tracks with rare recordings doesn´t work too well. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)