My Dying Bride
Deeper Down EP

January 2007
Released: 2006, Peaceville Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Lord of the Wasteland

There was a time when My Dying Bride was known for its E.P. releases. SYMPHONAIRE INFERNUS ET SPERA EMPYRIUM and THE THRASH OF NAKED LIMBS kept fans sated between full-length releases but after 1994’s I AM THE BLOODY EARTH, Peaceville Records discontinued this trend. Finally, twelve years later, fans of the band can get their appetites whetted with DEEPER DOWN, a three-track E.P. featuring an edited version of a song from the upcoming A LINE OF DEATHLESS KINGS, as well as a track from the recently-released SINAMORTA live DVD and an unreleased song from the new album’s sessions.



The “Uberdoom Edit” of “Deeper Down” really chops down the guitars of the version found on the full-length album. Cutting almost three minutes, “Deeper Down” is ready for single release and the song’s catchy melody is certainly poised for a breakthrough. The real catch here, though, is the unreleased “The Child of Eternity.” For fans of My Dying Bride’s early works, this song will have them drooling as Aaron Stainthorpe revisits his aggressive, growled vocal style that has been almost abandoned since 1996’s LIKE GODS OF THE SUN. A live version of “A Kiss To Remember” taken from the band’s 2003 Antwerp, Belgium show immortalized in last year’s SINAMORTA DVD is also included but it feels placed here more to sell the DVD than anything else.



DEEPER DOWN is not the crucial chapter in the My Dying Bride canon that its predecessors were. The unreleased song will be the reason most will pick this up and many will already have the SINAMORTA DVD and plan to acquire A LINE OF DEATHLESS KINGS as soon as it hits stores. Times change but one yearns for a return to the days when a My Dying Bride E.P. was a “must-have” rather than simply a label’s marketing tool.



KILLER KUTS: “Deeper Down,” “The Child of Eternity”