Opeth has gone progressive rock. Katatonia has gone alternative. The last bastions of doom metal’s regal legacy doesn’t detract from their metal core. Yet My Dying Bride’s Dreadful Hours does it with succinct class, subtle sophistication, and a bigger design. You may not know it but most of the goth metal bands popularized by beauty and the beast themes and electronica themes probably got their ideas from the experimentations of My Dying Bride.

I think My Dying Bride does not make a blind reach this time. Dreadful Hours is more thought out. As with most doom, this album is creative and sinister of dark expression and desires. Yet all the animated orchestras and special effects flows with a singular direction and does not call individual attention upon itself. The solitary sounds of chimes are lingering and solitary as a lonely candle. The swelling roar of drums and guitars marches like the thunder clouds of Zeus. Everything seems of an age old tale bound in an old book of classic times. Its a horror tale not of Martian men and purple people eaters but of respectfuly handed-down tales of Elizabeth Bathory, Frankenstein, Vlad Tepes, and Caligula.

Score 80/100

/author/ Alzn