Northern kings of angst ridden metal My Dying Bride are back in triumphant fashion with their spectacular new album "A Line Of Deathless Kings". Hamish Glencross shares his views of this darkened world.

Things are great at the moment, we're all happy with the results of the new album and the reception to it. We just finished this years shows in Turkey a couple of weeks back. So we have some time off now, although it is filled up with interviews and promotional stuff to get the album out to as many people as possible. Which should hopefully set us up for next year when we get to go out and once again play the songs live and check peoples response to it. We've already debuted some of the new songs live over the past couple of shows we did, and they worked really well in the live arena. Just looking forward to getting back out there before to long.

October saw the release of your new album “A Line of Deathless Kings”. How do you best describe the record for those yet to hear it?

I think it has every aspect of what makes My Dying Bride well My Dying Bride. Basically we have covered all grounds, we've taken every aspect of what we do to it's logical conclusion. As a result the album has a lot more contrast. It still comes under the dark umbrella of the emotive music that My Dying Bride do, with that unmistakable blood line right the way through it. We have progressed and developed as song writers, so I'd like to think it is our most accomplished and complete piece of work we have ever done. A few of the reviews so far use words like maturity, which is nice to read, but ultimately it is the culmination of what we have been working towards over these past few years. We have all had our ups and downs, personal experiences and relationships within the band are as strong as ever. All of which has been worked into the new album. It has a real depth to it that I hope people can appreciate.

The album certainly does take a little time to get under the skin. Was it the intension to make it a slow burner?

It does take some time and it was something we were quite conscience of as well. To have an album that does require time. An album that try's to engage you and involve you. So it is a much longer experience and relationship than a quick fix of something very palatable on the first instance, but you don't return to it later on down the line once the initial excitement has gone. We wanted something that throughout time you'd hear something new interpretations of the music and lyrics. We are very hopeful that it is something that people can spend a lot of time with.

What is meaning behind the album title? Is there a concept to this record?

The title came from a book on Egyptology that Aaron had been reading which had been lent to him by our keyboardist Sarah. It just seemed like a particularly strong title. When they brought it to the rest of us it just seemed quite fitting on a number of different levels as far as interpretation goes. The way we are really viewing it is that it represents the immortality of music and is an acknowledgment to our past. Every album we do is our attempt of a slice of immortality. Even after we have cease to function as a band or even long after ourselves are gone, this will always remain, our art. In that way all these albums are our deathless kings. You can hear it in the album, there are a few nods to the past. At the end of "The Blood, The Wine, The Roses" there is a bit of a hark back to return to "The Return To The Beautiful" from the first album. Yet elsewhere on the album you can really hear we are moving forward into a more melodic melancholic structures than ever before. Even a bit of electronic experimentation on the end of "One Of Beauty's Daughters". The title just seemed to encompass everything that we have done throughout our career and tried to do with this album. Frenetically it also just sounds a great title. 

Andrew Craighan has been the chief source of material for the band over the years. What was the writing process for this record? How do you pool your idea’s?

This album certainly was quite different to the last one, which in turn was different from the album before that. Andy always over sees that everything are going in the right direction for the band. We've always had a very good working relationship ever since I started playing with the band. On the last album, Andrew and myself worked away from the rest of the band unit, where we just worked on ideas from the guitar, which is how we had to work as we had a drummer that was injured. On that particular album we came to the band with the songs pretty much completed, and this is how we will perform them. This time around however we had a different drummer performing with us, which meant the songs we created in a much more organic style in the rehearsal room. The whole band there, thrashing out the ideas as they came to us. There was certainly more of a feeling of a band effort, and this is what gave it a bit more energy and vitality. Whereas the last album had a lot more darkness, as it went off into all sorts of odd areas. It was effective but we really wanted to get the intensity turned up this time. So as far as contributions the songs are still musically primarily written by Andrew and myself, but we got a lot more input from the rest

of the band as far as dynamics and structures were concerned. Which was really cool and makes it a much more cohesive group effort, and comes as a result of working as a complete unit.

Rumour has it that Aaron only began writing the lyrics to the album days before the band went into the studio? What was the reason behind this?

That's quite true. He had some ideas that had been floating around for a while, but I think it is part of his creative process where he leaves himself tight to time lines as it heightens his since of desperation. It certainly contributes to the feel of his lyrics in some ways. He just locks himself away in his basement studio, drinks red wine and gets himself into a particular mind set. He comes out with complete sets of lyrics at one time.

The album, more than recent records, has a real feel of mournful melancholy about it. How deliberate was it to return to the more Doom vibe of previous records?

From the initial stages from when we began writing the album, we really thought we'd just thrash out some ideas in the rehearsal room and see where it took us. When we actually hit the studio last year to record a single song and what we were recording was very melancholy, and very doom. In some aspects it was harking back to the old doom styles, which excited us. It naturally progressed that we included a lot of that type of feel in the songs and riffs. Also I think we were able to contrast those sections against more ghoulish parts of the band. We really mixed it up, we have that single note classic Candlemass style doom style on there. We've got huge sludgy riffs on there, but we then have some very layered intricate parts. There are several parts on the album that are in fact three separate guitar parts. Which won't be the easiest thing to replicate live, but we also had that on the last album but as we've got the keyboards to work with live we can build it out that way. We don't worry about the live shows to much anyway because an element of the live show is the extra dimension of the energy that makes it a different experience.

It has now become official that Shaun Steels is no longer part of the band due to health reasons. Can you elaborate on what these issues were?

It was unfortunate really. It goes back prior to the writing of this record where Shaun started having problems with tendonitis in his arm, which can be very severe indeed. He wasn't able to rehearse with us, and having to have pain killing injections. So in the end the writing process ceased after the first couple of songs we'd done in their formative state. So from that point onward he album was written without drums, and away from the band unit. When we hit the studio people were learning it in the studio, so that was an 'interesting' process. In the aftermath of that we couldn't quite tour as much as we wanted to to promote the album, which was something that I particularly found disappointing as we wanted to do as much as we could. Then he managed to injure his ankle. At this point in time we just said "Shaun, it's not that you are not in the band anymore, but we really need to carry on". So that is when we drafted in John Bennett to drum for us, and he has been playing with us for two years now. He did all the live shows from that point on and when it came time to do the album he did that also. It just came to a point when Shaun got back in touch with us and said "I'm going to stand down from the drumming position now". We wished him all the best for the future and it was a shame as we have been friends for such a long time.

We are not actively looking for anyone else, and we want John to continuing drumming for us for as long as possible. This is something I think he is keen to do as he worked so hard on this record and wants to see peoples reaction to the album. He is not official member yet, and perhaps in the future anything can happen but we'll deal with that when happens.

It is a great creative place. It's comfortable and proactive environment to work in, we work a lot of songs in that particular studio. We spend about three months each time in there on whatever album we are doing. It is a great place, a lot of great ideas come back and forth. It was an exciting interesting time also, as even the songs that have been developed to an advanced state before we hit the studio can get changed. When you are in the recording environment you often hear things you want to develop further, things you didn't necessarily hear before. Or there can also be something's you may want to change as it doesn't complement another part.

“Deeper Down” is the first single from the album. How and why this particular song? How much of a compromise was it to have to cut 3 mins out of the song to make the video?

Well this was the thing, because a single release does involve a promotional video for it. We knew whatever song we'd pick was going to have to be cut down to the four minute mark. That kind of helped me to the decision which song we'd choose, as none of our songs are short or radio friendly. We thought knowing the song would have to be edited we felt "Deeper Down" could take the pain better than most. It has had a good couple of minutes chopped from it, but it still retains the big strong riffs and it would work so much better than some of the other songs would have. Really by a process of elimination that became the single. I know the record label were found of it because it had strong vocal lines in it and catchier type riffs in there. In the end it just became an editing. We've already recorded the second video from the album for "I Can Not Be Loved". We'll have to see how that one comes out. I'm undecided to this day if I enjoy making them. It is good to be involved in the creative process, we like to have a hand in everything that we do. The "Deeper Down" video was done very independently with band and I know a couple of the guys are still unhappy with the final edit and finished product. I actually quite like it. The first version we had sent to us from Sweden none of us were particularly happy with, so we made some suggestions and asked

for a few minor edits that we thought would improve it. I think they really helped, and ended up with something by the most part we were happy with. It also meant coming to do another video we have been very directly involved, Aaron particularly has taken the lead. It's hard work, doing that silly process of miming your song over and over again while looking moody, pulling particular faces or poses. It can make you quite uncomfortable at times. It's a necessary evil and when you end up with a very good video it's very pleasing.  

What plans have the band to tour in support of the album? How do you juggle your professional and personal life when it comes to touring?

It is quite hard, it just means we have to plan very far in advance. Right now we are already planning our shows for next year and our booking agent is getting back in touch with us about new offers, new places to go. Already we are in discussions with promoters about shows for next summer which is of course months ahead. That is just the way it works now, we manage to juggle our everyday lives if you will around My Dying Bride. It just requires a little bit more time and effort really, but it is so important to us we just make it work.  It would be nice to spend more time with the band but by the same token, the integrity of the band is much more important. Like I mentioned before about the immortality of music, we want these albums to be something we are proud of in years to come. You can't really do that if you are chasing sales or trends of a scene. It's more important for us to do what we want to do, hence why we have been with the same record label for so long as they let us do what we do without coming in with any pressure to do three minute single in such a style.

It is an interesting dynamic because the rest of us love playing live and the response from the fans. It's just a great arena for us, it's such a reciprocal thing. Well thrash the songs out, the fans love it and that in turn pumps us up even more. At the same time however you can see how different it is for Aaron because he is so exposed up there. His songs, his lyrics are filled with anguish and are very sensitive to him. So whereas we are up there with our weapons if you will, Aaron is very vulnerable up there, particularly when doing a song like "The Dreadful Hours" where he can't help but find himself as a wretch on the floor practically weeping. He goes back to the initial feelings and mindset when he created the song. It certainly contributes to his performance, he really is quite mesmerizing to see and at times we have to make the effort not to stare and watch him. It is an interesting arena our live performance. 

Over the past few years it's been a good working relationship, they are in a good locality for us so it would be much harder if we were with a label out of the country. The ultimate thing is complete artistic freedom and creative control that we have. That is the major thing for a band like us. There maybe what could be considered a bigger label out there but we are a band that do these dark emotive songs that tend to be very epic. We don't want to change that. There has been a trend over recent years for 'Gothic' Metal acts, and we don't want to be pressured to follow trends of brining in a female vocalist or drop the guitars in favour of more keyboards, and ultimately produce a three minute pop song. Don't get me wrong I quite like some of that stuff, but it is so removed from what we do. The last thing we want is to be dictated to, god knows it is hard enough arguing amongst ourselves when we all have our own ideas. We have enough creative input in the band without a label trying to stick their oar in aswell.

Doom Metal appears to be in somewhat of a resurgence in popularity. Why do you think that the older bands are making such a come back? Do you consider My Dying Bride's music to fall into the Doom genre?

I'm more interested in the bands themselves than what genre they belong to, or from where they came. I try to make a conscience effort not to associated ourselves with a single genre. Doom is a very much the word of choice when it comes time to describing us and yes it makes sense to some degree, and for someone who doesn't know what we sound like it does convey quite a good idea of what we do. However we don't like to be restricted by a single genre and Doom at times can have a lot of narrow mindedness, traditionalist who think that there should be a fixed pattern of rules. We certainly don't associate ourselves with that in any way. As far as popularity of certain bands within the area, I think as there is hardship in life in general, the ups and downs of life may have something to do with it. We ourselves find what we do a very cathartic experience, we all have our lives and this dark powerful music can be a great way of expressing ourselves and working through everything.

I hope the people respect and appreciate this new album and I hope we can get out and play live as much as possible. Always look for intelligence in your music and all my best wishes.