We're all doomed
Lets face it 'My dying bride' (MDB) were never going to be a barrel of laughs, the chances of them ending on a cover of the Benny Hill theme were highly unlikely. So it came to pass that an evening of sadness and loss rolled over the audience like a crushing wave of despair. Find me a high bridge.
Unsurprisingly they all came on dressed in black, except the drummer who had a white t-shirt on ??? Maybe he wanted to match his kit, wasting no time they hit the crowd with a slab of doom laden metal that left no one in any doubt as to the quality musicianship of these guys, they're not much to look at in terms of stage shenanigans but they exude professionalism that keeps you interested throughout.
The first thing I noticed was that the snare drum was too loud, sorry guys but it hit me in the ear like a steel spike, later however the sound became fantastic, either my ears filtered it or the soundman turned it down when people around him started clutching their heads and fainting. After that, the audience could just sit, stand, lie down or wander about nodding their heads as they saw fit because this isn't a type of music or band that demands your attention. Someone like Onslaught earlier demanded that you look at them in case you missed a bit but MDB just get on with it and you either get the atmosphere and slide along with them or you stand apart wondering what all the fuss is about.
For me personally I found MDB to be bordering on genius, their music, very theatrical in it's grandeur made a slow unstoppable and relentless march over my Bloodstock battered ears and carried me along so I was hardly aware of time passing. The first time I looked at my watch I was surprised to find over an hour had gone which is quite something for a clock watcher like me.
Aaron Stainthorpe, the singer of MDB is well known for disliking being on stage, hmm good career choice Aaron, but none of this was apparent from where I was standing. The man is difficult to take your eyes off yet at the same time totally uncharismatic, he seems to feel every song like a painful personal experience and several times staggered to the floor as if the pain was unbearable, I've seen pretentious singers do this kind of thing before but Aaron came across as unpretentious and totally in touch with his music. He announced that they have a new single coming out from the soon to be released album called 'Deeper Down' and we were treated to the longer album version tonight. It's a pity Top of the Pops has ended because this toe tapper would be straight on. Yes, I'm joking, I don't know who a MDB single would be aimed at? Their existing fans would just wait for the album and the curious would be put off I'm sure because you can't understand a band like this from a 4 – 5 minute single. Still it was a cracker so go buy it.
The only real problem for the band and Bloodstock was that MDB aren't an obvious choice for festival closers. Festivals by their very nature attract people with widely different musical tastes, thrashers, metal heads, death metal church burners etc and MDB are a niche band, albeit a big one, bit of an oxymoron that but you get my point. You have to like slow doom laden metal in large doses and I think that is the reason that people started to leave after half an hour for an early night and a cocoa. If you cannot connect with MDB because you are unwilling to or just want something you can bang your head to all night then you are going to be bored. It's a shame because these guys put on one hell of a show and I'll be looking them up next time they're around.
They were a brilliant but somber end to a long day of metal, I just think some people won't have liked the ending to their day quite as much as I did.