My Dying Bride Bio

My Dying Bride formed in the summer of 1990, and after only 6 months of writing together released the now legendary demo 'Towards The Sinister'. Progress continued apace with the release of their first 7" single 'God Is Alone' for the small French label Listenable. The single sold out almost immediately causing eager whispers in the underground, bringing them to the attention of Peaceville Records, who offered the band a deal.

The first release from this now infamous pairing was the EP 'Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium', shortly followed by the band's first full-length album 'As The Flower Withers', avant-garde doom metal was born.

The band followed the release with a series of shows in the UK and mainland Europe. The response was phenomenal, and spurring the band on it wasn't long before they were back in the studio recording their second EP 'The Thrash Of Naked Limbs'. A full length tour of Europe was planned with sickodelic label mates G.G.F.H. but this was pulled at the last minute when MDB's drummer Rick had a bad fall while making the accompanying video. The video was a huge success with the MTV metal hordes and the EP flew high into the Kerrang charts.

Fans and critics hailed the band as pioneers of the new gothic metal genre. Pushing these new boundary's even further MDB recruited long time session musician and classically trained violin and piano player Martin Powell as a full time member. Writing then begun in earnest for their second album 'Turn Loose The Swans', released in 1993 a huge European tour was planned to coincide with the release, the album received rave reviews and - apart from illness, theft and motor breakdown's the tour was a huge success.


In 94 the band kept up the flow by releasing the 'I Am The Bloody Earth' EP, and then settled down to write material for their next album, 'The Angel And The Dark River'. The album was released in 1995 and an opus was born. Six epic tracks, averaging around nine minutes each immersed the listener in MDB's full sinister glory. By now the band were at the very forefront of the avant-garde metal scene, hailed in the press and with a flurry of like-minded bands following in their shadows, they again launched a successful live assault on Europe, culminating in some high profile festival appearances, including the famous Dynamo metal festival in Holland.


1995 was also the year that the band released 'Trinity' a single CD compilation of the first 3 EP's, if that wasn't enough they where invited on the road by the might Iron Maiden. This saw 1995 rounded off nicely, the tour, a 3-month hike around Europe was awesome and saw MDB win over thousands of die-hard Maiden fans every night.


Still happily married to Peaceville, the band, always one step ahead, released their fourth album 'Like Gods Of The Sun' in 1996. Again a rich work of art. Experience and careful attention to detail resulted in a much cleaner sound. Sarnies n clean socks packed they toured Europe, this time with Cathedral. Demand being so great they did it all over again in 97 with Sentenced. 97 was also the year that saw MDB hotfoot it to the US, this time to support Dio. Being well versed in all things MDB the US crowds went loco. Alas, with only a few weeks of the tour left, MDB had to pull out when Rick the drummer contracted a debilitating illness, which sadly resulted in the original member having to leave the band altogether.


Help came in the form of Bill Law, drummer with label mates Dominion, and work got under way writing the album, enigmatically titled '34.788% Complete'. At this time Martin also left the band. The album was as different as the title suggests, still full of MDB 'isms' it was daringly experimental, resulting in an overall sound more akin to Tricky than MDB of old. The album had a bit of a mixed response, the critics loved it, and praised the leap of faith, though the fans took a while longer to work things out, despite this the album did manage healthy sales.


Bill, a native of Canada saw his visa run out and was gone. The band decided not to tour and instead concentrate on solidifying the line up. Help came in the form of Shaun Steels, ex drummer Solstice, Cradle Of Filth and Anathema. After all the changes they'd recently encountered they where surprised at how quickly the new line up gelled, inspiring writing to begin for the album 'The Light At The End Of The World'. The album was released in 1999 and saw a return of the older MDB style, but with a whole new perspective on the sound. Shortly after the album was recorded the band enlisted a second guitarist in the form of Hamish Glencross, again formerly of Solstice.


2000 as ever saw MDB working hard on new material, and also working hand in hand with Peaceville on a retrospective of their work with the label to date, the manifestation being two full length CD's, containing rare tracks, live tracks, demo tracks, brand new art work and a video track. The first, entitled 'Meisterwerk I' was released in October, followed hot on the heels in Jan 2001 with, 'Meisterwerk II'…….


In August 2001 armed with an arsenal of new material the band hit the new relocated & upgraded Academy Studio's to record their 7th studio album, The Dreadful Hours. As ever Mags engineered, and also co-produced with guitarist Andrew Craighan. Keyboard duties fell to Bal Sagoth's Jonny Maudlin, with, 'not quite member, not quite session musician' Yasmin Ahmed performing keyboards on Return To The Beautiful.