MY DYING BRIDE
The Barghest O’ Whitby EP
Peaceville (2011)
Rating: 8.5/10
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For those not in the know, the Barghest, in folklore, was a dreaded phantasmal Black Dog, also known as a hellhound, believed to patrol some of the shorelines of Great Britain – particularly the windswept coast of Whitby, the setting for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897).
It’s great to hear bands being influenced by creepy old folktales. In this case, Brit doom-mongers My Dying Bride have devoted all 27 minutes of this one track EP to the ghoulish devil dog of British mythology, and boy is this epic, a rain-soaked outing that creeps along like some creaky Arthur Conan Doyle tale, fused together by the oaken chords of Hamish Hamilton Glencross and Andrew Craighan, the slo-mo thunder drums of Shaun Taylor-Steels, the bass tremor of Lena Abé, and distinctive bellow of Aaron Stainthorpe.
This clever concept track is so gargantuan that it barely travels beyond a lumber, made all the more stormy by those mournful violin wails courtesy of Shaun MacGowan. Doom metal has so many different sounds, and My Dying Bride have most certainly carved their own niche over the years with Stainthorpe’s vocals becoming clearer, but on The Barghest O’ Whitby he occasionally allows himself a sombre gurgle.
There’s no band more equipped to tell such a chilling tale than My Dying Bride, and it is delivered with such gloomy aplomb that the listener will find themselves reaching for the candle. Now, who is brave enough to tackle a H.P. Lovecraft story?
Neil Arnold
