Review by Krys on December 1, 2001.

For those of you who gave up on My Dying Bride and thought that those five Brits have their prime behind them I have bad news, their seventh studio release “The Dreadful Hours” is their best work to date and according to their axeman, Andrew Craighan that’s just the beginning of the new My Dying Bride.

Each track on this masterpiece reflects so many emotions that it’s no wonder that the shortest one clocks over 5 min and only 8 songs last for over 70 min., which by the way could be a lesson to a horde of today’s bands releasing twenty-something minutes albums and charging the full price for it... but “The Dreadful Hours” is not about the length of a CD but what’s on it.

From melancholic music landscapes to brutal death metal this album can make you feel standing on the rain and from time to time being struck by a thunder. The intro on the first track that starts with a quiet rainfall wouldn’t be anything special if not for the fact that ‘The Dreadful Hours’ actually ends with an amazing guitar work that sounds like falling raindrops. Maybe Aaron’s voice on ‘Le Figlie Della Tempesta’ wouldn’t sound as convincing if not for licks of a crying guitar or ‘Black Heart Romance’ wouldn’t send cold chills through your spine if the piano didn’t sound like ringing bells, but it does and that’s what separates My Dying Bride from the rest of the crowd and puts them on the top of the genre. I simply can’t find a single note that is wasted here and each instrument is used to its fullest potential without overuse.

My Dying Bride doesn’t break any boundaries here but do they have to? There is no one that sounds like them, original in itself. In a unique way “The Dreadful Hours” is a combination of what’s best in MDB discography, but it’s also a showcase of new composing ideas, which like a good drama will keep you on your toes till the last note astonishing the listener by incredible array of presented emotions and ease of expressing them.

Bottom Line: The most mature album of MDB and no one should pass it by indifferent.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 10
Originality: 10
Production: 10
Overall: 10

Rating: 10 out of 10