Calvin accidentally entered the wrong co-ordinates in the Delorean – 80%
Absinthe1979, May 13th, 2022 [com adaptações, adapted]
Written based on this version: 1998, CD, Peaceville Records
Ah, 1998. What a time to be alive. The internet had not yet sucked us all into its digital maw; black and death metal were riding back down the crest of its heightened early 90s wave; and experimentation within certain elements of darkened metal wasn’t just enticing to bands looking for the next thing, it was seemingly mandatory.
A review that did not tip its hat to Paradise Lost’s commercio-gothic keyboard-fest that is ‘One Second’ would only be 34.788% complete, so once again I’ll bemusedly thank the northern-English purveyors of moroseness. After ‘One Second’, a slew of similarly light and/or electronic releases hurriedly arrived from the likes of Amorphis, Moonspell, Theatre of Tragedy and of course, the mighty My Dying Bride. When ’34.788%… Complete’ was released, My Dying Bride were my favourite band in the world, and there was naturally a significant shock upon first hearing it. Nevertheless, the impact of its experimentation, the infusion of electronics and the otherwise futuristic sound was dampened somewhat by Paradise Lost already changing the paradigm, and that gave me some warning. So, like someone expecting an impact, I’d made my body go limp prior to pressing play, and the hurt wasn’t so great. Besides, unlike the annoyingly twee keyboard sounds of Paradise Lost’s album, ’34.788%… Complete’ actually had some meat on those cyborg bones. There was enough variety to really make this one hell of a curious and enjoyable album.
’34.788… Complete’ is the first album without the classic line-up. Gone were the irreplaceable keyboards and violin of Martin Powell as well as the bespoke drumming of Rick Miah. Gone, too, was the gothicism of old, and in place of mournful violin melodies from forlorn churchyards came the beeps and squeaks of a futuristic world. Bill Law, from also-rans Dominion, arrived onto the drum stool for his one and only showing with the band, and with the absence of the classical music engine-room, Calvin and Co. went all out with an album that was vastly different to anything that had gone before. Sound effects, electronics, drum loops: all were jockeying for room on this somewhat epic album.
I’ll begin with the lows so that we can end on the highs. The first inescapable low is that if you happened to love the first 4 My Dying Bride releases, which most people did in the mid 90s, this album was an electronic shock to the system. The infamous ‘Heroin Chic’, which was the talk of the town at the time, was found guilty on all charges, with its post-modern arthouse SoHo pretensions. Purely electronic, with Aaron Stainthorpe speak-reading some expletive laden (albeit blurred out!) bohemian poetry, I wouldn’t be caught dead listening to it if it wasn’t sandwiched between a couple of more decent tracks. These include the slow-marching ‘Der Uberlebende’ and the upbeat rock n roll of ‘Apocalypse Woman’, whose bass and tom-roll beginning coincidentally sounds very much like material on Moonspell’s ‘Sin/Pecado’ album, also released that year. While both songs are curious and not completely unwelcome members of the MDB songbook, you would hardly keep a straight face while suggesting they were classics. I know it’s generally accepted that ‘Heroin Chic’ has its place, but come on, if you heard it in a bar and didn’t know it was MDB, you’d leave the premises with utmost haste before the performance art begins.
What excites me most about this album are the 2 utter classic tracks that appear on it. In fact, I would look you in the eye and firmly shake your hand while swearing that both songs would make my My Dying Bride top 10. The first, ‘The Whore, the Cook and the Mother’ is an epic masterstroke of songwriting and storytelling. After some modern guitar tones introduce the song, it launches into a waltzing wall-of-sound riff that reminds somewhat of ‘The Cry of Mankind’, albeit this one is set in a futuristic Bladerunner world. Erotically charged lyrics sit perfectly upon the powerful music, and the lead guitar melodies are classic My Dying Bride, albeit sent off in the Delorean to the future. The spacey movement in the middle of the song (which again reminds of the atmospheric outro to ‘The Cry of Mankind’), with Aaron answering questions from a woman speaking Chinese, Bladerunner style, is so kooky and strange that it just happens to work. This track was a staple at our late 90s early 2000s parties and it’s stunning even today.
The other track that makes this album stand head and shoulders above the experiments of their peers, is ‘Base Level Erotica’. It is without doubt one of the great emotional masterpieces of the band, beginning with a haunting bass melody, before erupting into a shattering mid-paced gear change. The song is made up of pure MDB guitar melody greatness, while Aaron’s yearning erotic lyrics, which hold nothing back as to the glories of carnal encounters, are A+. When the music picks up into the “Take her clothes off…” section, foreplay has peaked and it’s game-on. The final guitar riff that is repeated to the song’s denouement is total emotion and sultry grandeur.
The album artwork suits the sonics on the disc, with a spidery looking image atop a strange circle of blue light with the obligatory – for a futuristic album – coordinates and other computery-looking symbols. The booklet, like every booklet of this era from the list of bands I mentioned earlier in this review, is made up of a starkly different artistic theme on each page, and it’s in a late 90s alternative style that I’m glad didn’t have longevity. The lyrics, by the way, are out of order in the booklet, so I’m not even sure if the product I have in my hands is what was intended, although it’s hard to see how any particular ordering of these zany and bizarre images could improve the package.
Perhaps I’m being a little kind on this album in my rating, maybe because the very next year they would release one of my favourite albums in ‘The Light at the End of the World’, and the world was put to rights. Am I letting bygones be bygones and killing the fattened calf for the prodigal son? And it’s true, there are a couple of tracks here that I would have to honestly conclude were unsuccessful experiments. But the winners are winners indeed, and even the mid-level tracks (such as ‘The Stance of Evander Sinque’ and ‘Under Your Wings and Into Your Arms’) suggest that the album is really more about 80% complete. It is indeed worthy of a place in this great band’s legacy.
rafazardly 