EP Review: My Dying Bride – Macabre Cabaret (Nuclear Blast)

It speaks volumes about My Dying Bride that not only would they release one of the year’s best albums in The Ghost of Orion but before the year ends they’d also deliver a banger of a 3-track EP. Macabre Cabaret is out November 20th 2020.

The band are at a creative high point of their careers right now and it once again it shows on Macabre Cabaret. Which begins with the same titled track, a 10-minute meandering through the gothic and doomy works the band often inhabits. A slow, unsteady riff and commanding, yet clean vocals follows thick bass and a haunting organ.

The vocals get darker and more gruff as the riffs linger and the percussion sounds out the monotonous beat. When it all does dissipate temporarily, it’s so we can be immersed in unsettling gothic-sounds. Grand isn’t descriptive enough to describe how this track feels.

A Secret Kiss has a bit more heaviness to it and sees a winding guitar tone begin to entrance before the doom comes with a bit of force. The echoing vocals, layered to sound hypnotically choir like and the screams and screeches of the guitars are pretty damn stunning. Unlike the opener and the following effort, this is a track that really does stand out as something quite different to what appeared on The Ghost of Orion.

However, A Purse of Gold and Stars can also make that claim but in a very different way. Different as it’s all about mellow atmosphere. Controlled by dark sound effects, subtle keys and garish synth, the vocals are spoken word and all it sounds so grand. It’s hard not to love it.

The same goes for the overall EP. A wicked accompaniment to the band’s earlier album of the year contender.

My Dying Bride – Macabre Cabaret Full Track Listing:

1. Macabre Cabaret
2. A Secret Kiss
3. A Purse of Gold and Stars

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