Customer Reviews

Turn Loose the Swans

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this album is absolutely great, and was my first proper doom record. upon the release of this album, my dying bride lost their overt death metal aproach in favor of a more varried mixture of styles. some parts sound like pure death metal and some like gothic, and in other spots like pure doom, but in general it is a good mixture. the album starts with the long cold 'sear me MCMXCIII,' a kind of intro track with great electric violin and spoken vocals over a minimal keyboard melody. from here the album decends into massive doom with 'your river,' an great song with a keyboard intro, a slow doomy section with clean vocals, and finally ending in a crunching death/doom manor with growled vocals. this kind of an approach is observed over most of the album, with 'the crown of sympathy' having no growls, and the title track being a mostly extreme affair with crushing riffs. the album ends in about the same way it begins, with another spoken/violin gothic song, this time with clean vocals. while a lot of bands have come after them, none have captured the romantic feeling in death doom nearly as well as my dying bride did, especially on this album. i cannot say enough about the electric violin, which while is not technically perfect (the production on it is not perfect for example) it gives a strong unorthodox feel. great album, one of the best of the ninties.

THIS is what Gothic Music is all about...dark, romantic, poetic, moving, emotional, and simply grandiose. Granted, the common Sisters of Mercy -esque dancebility is not here, but nor are the cliches that are taking away the atmosphere and aesthetic of Goth culture. In stead are dark melodies that will moisten your eyes and eloquent lyrics that will make you think...and FEEL. The penmanship of Aaron's lyrics are remarkable and the band's musicianship is godly. This is the band at their finest hour. This is profound music to entrance and serenade you, and most of all touch you. By far, THE essential Gothic band...try 3rd & The Mortal, early Anathema, and Theatre Of Tragedy, and Attrition, Dead Can Dance, Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Current 93, and Death in June for more exquisite melancholic beauty.

And an album that truly merits 5 stars! Martin Powell makes this album with his great keyboard and violin playing. "Black God" is one of the best songs ever written.

Do not listen to this record on a good day! For it will drench your spirit in hopelessness and heartbreak the moment you put it in and press the Play button. I found myself really relating to this album one evening while watching a relationship that I held near and dear crumble into rubble. No other album, metal or otherwise, captured my sorrowful feelings more than this album did.

My Dying Bride's themes of sexuality, lost relationships, and the dark side of religion echo loudly on this album, as with all their albums. The music is beautifully composed and performed, and the violin adds to the "tragic romantic" mood of the music and lyrics in a serene and sensuous way.

I highly recommend this album as a coping tool for those going through major tragedy in their lives.

Someone compared My Dying Bride to Dead Can Dance?? Why?? Anyway, when this CD was released, I was really glad to hear that Martin (keyboards/violin) was made a actual member of the band. I like the violin and keyboard work above the other instruments, even though My Dying Bride is an overall very talented band. I was also quite upset when he left after Like Gods of the Sun and the band started to go downhill. This CD is very intense from start to finish, with the romantic first track, Sear Me MCMXCIII (roman numeral for 1993), to the Christ-questioning last track, Black God. The best songs on the album, in my opinion are: Sear Me MCMXCIII, Your River, The Snow in My Hand, and, of course, The Crown of Sympathy, Turn Loose the Swans, and Black God. Which covers the whole album except for one song which is also good but not as good as the others! It's a must for the MDB fan and if you are a fan and don't have it, there's something not right!

If you like doom metal, or if you even have a passing fancy with it, then you should own this album. No band has ever created such an amazing album in the genre, indeed, in most of extreme metal. Few albums, and even fewer bands, have achieved something close to perfection, but this is just about as close as it gets. The first track, with just violin and keyboard, is hauntingly beautiful, and can be appreciated by even the most ardently anti-metal fan on the planet. The rest is equally devastating. I listen to this nearly every day. BUY IT NOW.

Hi, I'm Dan...and I'm addicted to My Dying Bride. It started about 3 months ago with my very first purchase, MDBs "Angle and the Dark River." With that incredible rush still coursing through me I bought "Turn Loose the Swans." This melancholy madness is triumphant and depressingly brutal. Some cannot handle this kind of musical intesity at such a slow, brooding, gloomy pace, but I often turn to MDB with a sad embrace, knowing that the emotion therein is honest and worthy.

The best doom album by the best doom band. This is MDB's finest moment - epic, grand, melancholic, beautiful, dark, powerful and infernally sublime. The brilliant track 'Crown of Sympathy' is to my mind unsurpassed in this genre - it's majestic and malevolent, sad and supreme. Opening track 'Sear Me' is also fantastic...in fact, there's not a dodgy song on this album. The whole thing flows together perfectly, and the arrangements and musicianship displayed here are magnificent. Aaron's vocals on this album switch between the melodic singing and the menacing death growl, which works absolutely. Gorgeous lyrical poetry, too. Immersing and intense, this is a must-have for any fan of either the band or the genre. A lot of people I know who aren't fans of metal or doom or even goth have loved this album, though - it seems to span all kinds of tastes and sometimes the people who have liked it have come as a complete surprise to me. (My father, a classical music purist, even admitted that the composition was of a high standard!) It's divine.

I bought this album in autumn 1993, right at the time when Icon by Paradise Lost came out. I played both albums a lot initially, but grew tired of them and then put them aside for many years. I even sold my copy of Turn Loose The Swans (and Icon) to a friend of mine. I repurchased both albums a couple of years ago and listen to them regularly again. I have never become a real My Dying Bride fan; I found the songs dragging on too long and I didn't like the clean vocals of Aaron (his death grunt is great). But looking back, this album has become one of the leading in the genre and the best My Dying Bride album I have heard. Sear Me 93 and Black God are ok, but the metal tracks make this album the gothic/doom/death classic that it is. Best songs are Your River, The Crown Of Sympathy and the title track.

Although this is my first taste of My Dying Bride, I have heard plenty of other doom, funeral doom, gothic bands and I must say that MDB does a great job on this cd. At first I was expecting something a bit more along the lines of Shape of Despair(my favorite funeral doom band), but after I got over that I was able to fully enjoy every song on here. I was able to get the latest version which includes several bonus tracks and those are pretty good as well but not as great as the original songs on the cd. Overall, this album is worth picking up if your a fan of gothic or doom music as you will surely not be disappointed.