My Dying Bride – “A Map of All Our Failures”

A band like My Dying Bride really has no business making albums that are as good as A Map of All Our Failures this late in the game. After 22 years it seems to be expected that a group will lose its edge and start to churn out discs that are merely a shadow of their former selves. With A Map of All Our Failures; however, My Dying Bride prove that bands indeed can still release outstanding material much later in their careers.

Part of the appeal of A Map of All Our Failures is how the band can make the sound of utter hopelessness so damn appealing. While guitarists Andrew Craighan and Hamish Glencross in particular, make sorrowful guitar tones sound like sweet nectar, vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe sounds almost like he is crooning a love song to death at times, particularly on “A Tapestry Scorned”. While he rarely ventures into his death grunts of old, he does occasionally use them, and when he does the effect can be stunning.

Naysayers be damned, releases like A Map of All Our Failures prove that the album is not dead as a format, as each song feels interconnected and part of a whole package. As a result I sincerely hope that a band like My Dying Bride never opts to go the singles-only route. Anyone who missed this one in 2012 should immediately go and give it a spin; it rivals any other doom release of last year.

Track Listing:

01. Kneel Till Doomsday
02. The Poorest Waltz
03. A Tapestry Scorned
04. Like A Perpetual Funeral
05. A Map Of All Of Our Failures
06. Hail Odysseus
07. Within the Presence of Absence
08. Abandoned As Christ

Run Time: 57:57
Release Date: October 15, 2012

Check out the song “Poorest Waltz”