Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing entry, 30 Nov 2008
I'm a huge fan of My Dying Bride, several of their albums numbering among my all-time favourites, but much of A Line Of Deathless Kings just doesn't for it for me. Looking at the other reviews, I seem to be in something of a minority, but I feel that a great deal of the album is filler and there's something about the composition of the songs that doesn't fit in with the rest of the band's varied catalogue.
I ought to mention that at least three songs on this album are bona-fide 100% classics, alongside tracks like "Here in the Throat" and "A Doomed Lover" as some of the band's very best: the hard-hitting opener "To Remain Tombless", the wandering guitar-fest of "L'Amour Detruit" and the single, "Deeper Down", with an ending so doomy it never fails to make me slightly less upbeat than when it engaged it. The problem with ALoDK, as with '99's The Light at the End of the World is that the majority of the album is bland, full of uninspired playing, overlong songs and familiar melodies. I also noticed maybe three or four phrases that have appeared in countless My Dying Bride songs before. In short, the writing on here is lazy.
While the production is top notch, it does little to alleviate the songs from the dull mire in which they drown. So little of this material deserves to be remembered, or even played live. There is a flash of furious death metal at the album's close which hopefully indicates the direction the next album will take. I don't think my loyalty can take another aimless clean-vocal fest.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and powerfull!, 13 Nov 2006
MDB's latest album is superb! The band's sound as been evolving trough the years and this album just crowns perfection. People that weren't so satisfied with this album are the same that weren't satisfied with "Songs of darkness..." the band's sound is heavier, more powerfull now. I think people need to stop comparing the band's latest albums with the stuff from the early years. It is clearly not the same sound yet the same feeling and inner power is there. why compare it to something different. so you wished they had never evolved but is that a reasonable request?
I for one love the new sound and people that like the feeling that comes along with doom but at the same time like heavier darker sounds will love it to.
Maybe people like me didn't like the early albums as much either but it is not up to us to tell the band where to go just to follow them if we like what we hear.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasure worth the pain., 12 Oct 2006
This is doom metal; this is heavy, and melodic; this is slow and occasionally fast; it's pain and pleasure; this is My Dying Bride at their very best.
Almost all of the vocals on this album are 'clean', with only a few rough/growling parts. I was a bit worried at first if this would make it less exciting, but it really doesn't. Aaron sings extremely well on this album, and is very versatile in his use of different kinds of singing. He goes high, he goes low, he whispers and he does growl too (but only when it suits the music and lyrics). Generally, on "A Line of Deathless Kings", nothing is done unless it serves a purpose, ie. the melodic guitars follow the vocals (or the other way around) etc., and as mentioned above, the style of the vocals reflect the words that is being sung, Also, the use of keyboards and special voice effects is very subtle and balanced, and again, isn't there for their own sake, but to support the mood of the song.
Although the band has had to say goodbye to Shaun, their drummer, who on this album has been replaced with a guy named John Bennett, the music is tighter than ever, with all the elements/instruments supporting each other.
The new album from the very experienced "god-fathers of doom", as MDB has been labelled, is the natural development, following their two latest album, "The Dreadful Hours" and "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light", of the elements that make My Dying Bride so good. I don't think they can get any better than this, this album is just perfect. Buy it, heck buy two, as I have: I couldn't wait for the limited edition, so I bought the normal too. The wait is painful, but the pleasure is worth it.
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