Review by Jon on April 20, 2020.

After a long 5-year wait, the new record The Ghost of Orion has finally arrived. As has been well publicized, the band was deeply impacted by personal and band-related issues that were far more important than completing the new album, leading to the lengthy delay. Unfortunately, The Ghost of Orion is perhaps their weakest full-length release to date. Although the band has put out some largely excellent records over the last 20 years (namely The Dreadful Hours, A Line of Deathless Kings, and Feel the Misery), this record suffers from a distinct lack of consistency. There was a time in the early 90's when this band could do no wrong, when nearly every riff and melody on their records was sublime. Since then, consistency has plagued several of the bands’ records (particularly evident on The Light at the End of the World, For Lies I Sire and The Ghost of Orion). Roughly 50% of the riffs on this record are of a high quality and leave a lasting impression, infused with the mournful beauty of an autumnal lament. Unfortunately, the rest of the riffs lack conviction, strong melodies, and memorability. This is especially disappointing considering the long wait and knowing what the band is capable of.

Let's start with this: it is wonderful to simply have another My Dying Bride record. According to the band, this record very easily may not have happened - the fact that the band persevered and regrouped is admirable. In addition, 'Your Broken Shore' and 'The Long Black Land' are monumental compositions. The former has the best vocal melodies on the LP, searing harmonized guitars, an extensive use of ethereal violins and cellos, and a dominating vocal performance by Aaron Stainthorpe. Aaron moves seamlessly from clean singing to monstrous growls and is creative with his choices here. The latter is monstrously heavy and (along with 'The Old Earth') is as close to moments of death metal that you will get on this LP. The guitars are crushing and there are lumbering single note doom riffs throughout the song (equally melodic and powerful).

The use of violin and guitar harmonies has increased exponentially since the last release, and the band has tried some new and interesting ideas (see the layered guitars on 'The Solace'). Many of these melodies carry a graceful sadness and forlorn beauty. Solid performances are provided by each of the musicians on their respective instruments. Despite these attributes, the record is damaged by an obvious lack of consistent and quality material. As mentioned above: in almost every song you can quickly go from a very effective, majestic moment of grandeur to a section that is average and prevents the song from reaching the heights My Dying Bride is capable of. The frequency with which this occurs multiple times in the same song (and in most of the songs) is concerning. Many of the riffs and melodies simply don't land and come across as uninspired - they are simply 'there' in the song. There is also an air of predictability, as if I know the next note that will be played on the guitar in the basic melodic scales that are used almost exclusively here.

Aaron's vocals sound technically superb overall, especially the growls. The growls are absolutely pummeling and elevate every section they appear on, even making a somewhat average riff sound better. Multi-layered vocal harmonies are utilized, unlike any in the bands' history. There are also occasions where the growls and cleans are layered during the same vocal line, a rarity for this band. Unfortunately, this is overshadowed by a lack of memorable vocal melodies. Although Aaron's performance is technically excellent, his clean vocals present relatively few moments that reach the quality of the melodies he brought to life on many previous recordings. The vocals are often too plaintive, exacerbating the lack of memorability. There’s nothing here quite capable of reaching the heights of the vocal lines on 'Thy Raven Wings', 'To Remain Tombless', 'I Almost Loved You', 'Your River', 'Black Voyage', 'Two Winters Only' or many other classics (with 'Your Broken Shore' coming closest).

The Ghost of Orion features a distinct lack of darkness. If you are looking for cryptic and unpredictably wicked chord progressions, you are out of luck. The obscure darkness found on their early 90's material, the Barghest O' Whitby, or many of their other albums is glaringly absent. The death metal element here is strictly limited to about two slower/heavy riffs on the album – Aaron's growls are often featured atop traditional melodic doom riffs that have no relation to death metal. I honestly hesitate to affiliate the phrase 'death metal' to describe this record at all (apart from the intermittent growling). On the positive side, a consistent autumnal tone/atmosphere envelops the record. The atmosphere conjures visions of desolate hillsides, barren trees among fallen leaves, and a solemn figure weeping beneath the rain. It's very clear this was the bands' intention, and with this they have surely succeeded.

Another major culprit here is the lack of diversity and dynamics. While the album admirably maintains its’ graceful sadness and tone from beginning to end (as I believe the band intended), the variety and diversity on this record is sorely lacking. There is basically one tempo throughout – relatively slow. There is an almost complete lack of the unexpected - it is very predictable that each song will have a clean guitar section and that the tempo will never change. Although there are very heavy riffs and brutal growls on several of the songs, there really aren't any particularly aggressive moments on the record. An hour-long record needs to be nearly perfect in every area to survive operating at one tempo, and this record is not. With almost every riff resting comfortably in the same 'safe' melodic zone, the lack of diversity, dynamics, and tempo changes end up harming the record significantly.

Ultimately, the crushing blow to this record was Calvin Robertshaw leaving the band. I was very excited about Calvin returning to the fold in 2014, as he was a founding member who had written and contributed to many of the bands greatest and most groundbreaking material. You are left wondering what may have been had he written half of the material and had worked with Andrew to reign in the quality control. If both guitar players agree a riff is excellent and help each other filter out everything but the absolutely strongest material, the result is a record of superior quality. To my understanding, Calvin left near the beginning of the writing process as he was concerned with all of the points mentioned above (a lack of the following: aggressiveness, dynamics, diversity, the riffs and tempos being too similar and predictable, etc). The final product was drastically impacted by his departure, and Andrew simply does not fare as well here as he did while solely writing 'Feel the Misery'.

Given the information above, The Ghost of Orion is slightly above average - I cannot recommend it as essential listen for fans, or as a starting point for those new to My Dying Bride. It is not a bad record, but it leans too closely towards bands like Swallow the Sun (see the negatives listed above). I find myself asking: can a record in this genre succeed while operating at basically one tempo, with little diversity or dynamics, with a near complete lack of aggression and death metal elements? As My Dying Bride themselves have proven, it certainly can (see The Angel and the Dark River). Sadly, there are no tracks on this record that match the timeless majesty of 'The Cry of Mankind', 'From Darkest Skies', or 'A Black Voyage'. Whether it be the quality of the violin or vocal melodies, the consistency of the guitar riffs, or the overall memorability: this album simply cannot reach the heights of the band's best material.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Review by Szymon on April 3, 2020.

The recent history of My Dying Bride is quite faithful to Nietzsche's rather old, but apt statement: "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger."

It can't be said that My Dying Bride has returned with a new album stronger than ever before, but certainly The Ghost of Orion is the band's best album for at least a decade (I would even lean to the thesis that it's the best effort since the sensational A Line of Deathless Kings from 2006).

Celebrating the 30th anniversary this year, the Brits not only had to face band turbulence, which wasn’t a new situation; the guitarist Calvin Robertshaw left the group yet again, while later drummer Shaun Taylor-Steels followed suit soon after. With a cancer diagnosis in September 2017 for his then-five-year-old daughter, singer Aaron Stainthorpe cast an undoubted shadow on the activities of My Dying Bride, and, in fact, put the overall formation in question.

And yet the band did not give up. Further, when it seemed that the downward trend was inevitable, as evidenced by several clearly weaker records (including a really misunderstood Evinta and the particularly unsuccessful Feel the Misery from 2015), the band came back quite unexpectedly with a very successful album. Stainthorpe himself declared that nothing can stop My Dying Bride, and there is genuinely something to that. Perhaps the band which based its entire activity primarily on the subject of suffering needed another catharsis just to return stronger and more cemented. In addition, after almost 30-years in the ranks of Peaceville Records, MDB returned under the colors of a new label, Nuclear Blast, which seems to strongly support the British doom metal veterans.

Similarly, as with the previous album, guitarist Andrew Craighan worked alone on the entire The Ghost of Orion material. This time, however, there emerged quite a different effect. It is difficult to say to what extent the recent events affected the music layer of the disc, but certainly their traces can be found in the lyrics of Stainthorpe, especially in the sickness of the daughter-themed 'Tired of Tears', the best next to 'Your Broken Shore' and 'To Outlive the Gods' tracks from the album. The three mentioned (plus 'The Old Earth' and 'The Long Black Land') are essentially classic My Dying Bride compositions, offering everything that the band has made us used to expecting in the past. Even if Stainthorpe's vocals sound a bit different today than the characteristic sobbing filling classic albums from years ago, which will forever remain one of the key hallmarks of My Dying Bride, it matters very little.

What's more, there were surprises abound, even though the My Dying Bride of the past did not spoil us with those all too often. While the guest role of cellist Jo Quail smoothly fits into the band's instrumentation, 'The Solace', which Linda Fay Hella (Wardruna) sang, is really something completely new. The same is true with 'Your Woven Shore', enhanced with choirs and 'The Ghost of Orion' with whispers floating somewhere in the distant background. Both of the short and basically instrumental songs are rare by the standards of the band. Even if they are just fillers added to the disc due to Stainthorpe's limited availability, the end result is really very decent.

I would like to be wrong, but I can't imagine The Ghost of Orion attracting new fans to My Dying Bride. Classic, melancholic doom metal has never been a good recipe for staggering success, and ten-minute tracks are probably too much of a challenge in an increasingly rushed and impatient world. It is important, however, that the band still did not say that this is the last word and can still offer a lot. The Ghost of Orion has enough advantages to influence old fans, and not only by the power of sentiment; sentiments are obvious in the music world, but many other bands, once mentioned in the same breath next to MDB, can only count on them.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Raphaël on September 18, 2023.

Less than a year after he released his first album, the highly anticipated Blackbraid I, Sgah'gahsowáh (Jon Krieger) is back with his second album, the surprisingly titled Blackbraid II. Let me tell you that, although the title might lack a bit of originality, that’s the only place you will get a lack of anything on the album. With a runtime of an hour and six minutes, he packed so many ideas that, for the most part, fit perfectly in this continuation of our exploration through the wonderful and mystical musical universe Jon is creating. Before diving in, I think it’s important to talk about who Blackbraid is and what is background is. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico he now lives in the Adirondack Mountains, in New York. I’m not entirely sure from what tribe he is from but, based on a quick search on Google, it’s probably the Huichol people. This would explain his first video for the song 'The Spirit Returns'. He probably wanted to go back to his roots (but more on that later). As well as, recording, mixing and mastering, Neil Schneider also played drums on the, album. And that’s it! Blackbraid is the genius of one man! The fact that it’s all done independently is kind of mind-boggling. Seeing his meteoric rise in the metal universe has been quite a joy!

Without further ado, let’s start our journey. The album opens with 'Autumnal Hearts Ablaze', a beautiful and slow acoustic guitar picking reminiscent of the folky and soft side of Agalloch. The first and last few seconds is only the sound of a small wood fire crackling gently. It instantly brings you on a warm summer night in the woods. The peace and quiet is cut short when 'The Spirit Returns' starts with a black metal riff. Fast tremolo picking and blastbeats assault your ears in the most satisfying way. The entire song has a simple yet infectious melodic riff making you get the feeling you are in a vast open space. The atmosphere is simply mesmerizing. In the video they made for this song, it appears they are in a vast desert, in a place that looks like Mexico. Lyrically, it revolves around themes of our ancestors and how we can harness strength from them: “Within our hearts their fallen spirits thrive, To ride out on rolling thunder, Bathed in ancient blackened majesty”. Considering Jon is originally from central Mexico, it all makes perfect sense to film this video in a location that must be dear to his heart. It’s going to be a central theme throughout the album, his ability to paint a beautiful scenery with his words and music, that are intrinsically working together. This is an album where, if you don’t pay attention to the words, you will lose something important to fully understand this work of art. Back to the music, after taking us in a journey in a vast open field, the song cranks up the speed and aggressivity to finally end kind of abruptly, holding one note for a few seconds and then go straight into the next song.

'The Wolf That Guides The Hunters Hand' starts with a super atmospheric tremolo picking and after a few seconds, the epic howl of a wolf is heard, welcoming you into the world of the rest of the album. The drum starts immediately after this chilling howl, accompanied an atmospheric riff, that leads into a super fun and complex drum break. We are now entering the heart of the song: fast black metal riffs, all layered at different relative pitch so to come out separate in the mix. Everything starts slowing down leading to some type of post-metal, solo-ish part, think of 'Silvera', from Gojira. It progressively gets quieter with a fadeout that is a beautiful transition to the next song. Before moving on, I have to show another example of how the music and lyrics are linked together. He says: “The sweetest memory is the time taken, To sow the seeds of love in times of death Time marches on, Like rolling thunder on the edge of the rising dawn” other than how beautiful the image of sowing seeds of love is, when he talks about the time marching along like rolling thunder, the drums sounds exactly like that, rolling thunder, precisely as he says the words. Next, 'Spells Of Moon And Earth' is a beautiful folk interlude with traditional Native American flute. It’s probably a Zuni: Tchá-he-he-lon-ne but, to be honest, I don’t really know. That flute is accompanied by an acoustic guitar, playing hypnotic major and minor intervals. All of this and we are just getting started, the two next songs: 'Moss Covered Bones On The Altar Of The Moon' and 'A Song Of Death On Winds Of Dawn' are, in my opinion, the pièce de résistance of the album. Clocking in at 13min30sec and 11min05sec, they are both massive song and the highlight of this album.

Being this long, it gives time to incorporate many ideas and dynamics. It starts with simple, traditional native American drum, joined quickly by a regular drum and a catchy riff and rhythm. The song takes his time, slowly but surely getting progressively faster, until a full black metal assault! Within this buildup, he sings: “Encircling the altar in the pale moon light, Called down by blood and bone, They join their spectral bodies into mine, Imparting me with a sacred song” just after saying, with a sacred song, a beautiful flute solo is played. It is literally a song within a song! It expertly conveys images of the altar and the blood on the bones, calling the spirit of his ancestors. Towards the end it all slows down and we get a taste of his lower growled vocals, which truly gives a sensation of impending doom. For the rest, it’s a slow and doom-ish riff that ends abruptly to immediately transitioning into: 'A Song Of Death On Winds Of Dawn'. It starts with an epic riff, suddenly taking you completely elsewhere, reminding me of a good old finish folk metal band. It’s not long before it evolves into full raging black metal. Neil Schneider shows of his talent as a drummer with relentless and fast blastbeats. Jon also shows of his talent with is fierce and powerful black metal vocals, while singing such beautiful words: The seeds sown, in times of death, Blossom into the heaviest of hearts, The greatest test of all, Learning to let go, Of the love that lights the flame, Of sadness within our hearts. The way he writes about grief is truly moving. Straight in the middle of the song, there is 2 minutes and ½ minutes interlude. Cranking of the atmosphere to 11, with the sound of the wind in the background, there is a simple and repetitive acoustic guitar picking combined with a moving flute passage. While still being in trance, the drums slowly start back with that epic sounding riff to then go back to that full raging black metal assault like in the beginning. The song ends with him saying those words: “My eyes they settle, On the coming dawn, And I give myself, To her sweet song”. Screaming the word song and holding it for a long time.

The only negative points I would give this album comes from the song 'Twilight Hymn Of Ancient Blood'. It is by no means a bad song, it’s just completely out of place. The song is divided into two halves. The first is a slow and super heavy, almost death/doom part with Jon’s powerful death growls. It is still super atmospheric so it’s not that part that takes me out of it it’s the other one, a straight up blackened thrash metal ragger, complete with a shredding solo courtesy of Randy Moore. The last song is a cover of 'A Fine Day To Die' from Bathory. Again, on its own it’s really good but I feel like it doesn’t fit in the context of the album. The best way to enjoy the album, for me at least, is to skip 'Twilight Hymn Of Ancient Blood' and the cover and finish with the song 'Sadness And The Passage Of Time And Memory', which is a perfect way to end, with his beautiful lyrics and long and slow fadeout the end, which actually feels like a sunset. Always with the perfect lyrics: “Waning twilight whispers, My spirit sheds its skin, Cloaked in flowing dreams”.

Jon Krieger showed us, once again, his incredible talent as a songwriter, musician and lyricist and gave us the perfect following to his first record. Plus, the fact that he has been touring all year long, makes me certain that blackbraid is an unstoppable force in the metal world. Usually when there is a lot of hype, you get disappointed but, in that case, believe me the hype is real!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on July 8, 2023.

Today is the day when we witness the return of everyone's favorite Last Mohican, and no, I am not talking about Daniel Day-Lewis and his role in the award-winning feature, but a US atmospheric black metal band which was a hot subject in 2022. The band I am talking about is none other than Blackbraid and their second full-length album Blackbraid II, released on July 7th. This band was basically everywhere on social media since the release of their debut album Blackbraid I in 2022, which was due to the fact that it’s a black metal band lead by a Native American known as Sgah'gahsowáh. I did get to check out this band when the album came out and I liked it overall for what it is, but I must admit that I was very put off by the overwhelming fan hype surrounding the band. Although I tend to look away from such things, I was very hesitant to check out the second album, but in the end, I gave it a chance just to see if the band still holds up or if it was just a hype thing after all. So, what’s the conclusion then? Let’s find out…

Blackbraid’s signature style which was established on the previous album is very much present here as well. The band’s recognizable heavy guitars in C# tuning, with tremolo riffing, melodies, blast beats, double-bass drumming and harsh vocals make a return to once again to dominate on this album, yet this time it seems that the riffs and the melodies this time are a lot heavier than the ones on the previous album. On top of that, the songwriting also seems to have become more progressive with all the complex arrangements and some moments of technical riffing, with the best example being 'The Wolf That Guides The Hunters Hand'. This time we receive three great acoustic instrumental tracks ('Autumnal Hearts Ablaze', 'Spells Of Moon And Earth', 'Celestial Passage'), all equally beautiful and mesmerizing to listen to, whereas the track 'Spells Of Moon And Earth' brings back one most important element and my favorite aspect of Blackbraid, and that is the Native American flute, which was so wonderfully combined with ambient sounds of owl hooting and the acoustic guitars. The Native American flute would make a return on other tracks such as 'Moss Covered Bones On The Altar Of The Moon', 'A Song Of Death On Winds Of Dawn' and 'Celestial Passage', which despite their nonfrequent presence still manage to steal the moment once they appear.

A personal favorite of mine is the eight track 'Twilight Hymn Of Ancient Blood', which at first is very slow and melodic, then all of a sudden it switches to a surprising heavy metal extravaganza on the second half, dominating with headbanging mid-tempo downpicking guitars and beautiful guitar solos. This album also has a very surprising inclusion, which is the cover of Bathory’s 'A Fine Day To Die' as the album’s closing track, although executed differently in comparison to the original and various cover versions. The song starts out right away with harsh vocals on the intro rather than the clean vocals that would usually be the common case, but on top of that it also has some slight tempo changes and even frequent tremolo leads. I personally never get tired of this song, and seeing it appear on this album was more than a welcome feature for someone like me who stayed a diehard Bathory fan for years.

Something that I always admired about Blackbraid is the magic that flows through the music, which not only keeps your attention from start to finish, but also helps the mind visualize images in your head. I personally think that Sgah'gahsowáh really went ahead this time when it comes to the overall songwriting, taking it a step further where the listener can transcend even deeper into the world of Blackbraid that’s surrounded with nature and spirituality. The second album is considerably longer than the first one, which is due to the fact that the songs themselves are longer and the fact that the album has a total of 10 songs instead of 6, bringing it up to one hour and six minutes. Even though I personally hesitated to go so far to compare it with the first album in terms of execution, I did find myself in an unescapable situation where I couldn’t help but notice that I actually liked the second album more than the first one. It may sound unusual, but everything that was established on Blackbraid I seems to be improved and taken to an eleven with Blackbraid II, even the songs are much more engaging and powerful. I would even say that the visual presentation is carried even better with the return of artist Adrian Baxter, who applied his wonderful and imaginative skills on the album’s artwork. As for the production, it is more or less the same as it was on Blackbraid I, maintaining that heavy guitar and drum that was the crucial factor in the band’s sound.

Blackbraid I may be the great introduction to the band, but I personally think that Blackbraid II takes the grand prize. Although I do get tired of people talking about this band constantly, hyping to insane levels where it becomes tedious, I still manage to enjoy Blackbraid’s incredible musical work and admire the creative direction of Sgah'gahsowáh. Blackbraid II is not only a great sequel to the first album that stood and delivered, but it’s also a great expansion of the band’s background which I think will be even more talked about, especially with all the new fans on the horizon.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10