lukretion The mediocre Like Ghosts of the Sun had already shown that in the mid-90s British doomsters My Dying Bride were probably facing a sort of creativity crisis, struggling to write inspired music within the canons of the genre (gothic/doom) that they had contributed to create. Released in 1998 after the departure of violinist Martin Powell, 34.788%...Complete feels a lot like an attempt by My Dying Bride to jump start their songwriting machinery by injecting into it fresh new influences, from industrial to trip hop to electronica. Truth be told, My Dying Bride were not the only doom band exploring new forms of expression in those years. Paradise Lost had turned electro-goth since a couple of years, and Anathema were slowly but surely developing their own Floyd-infused progressive rock style. So 34.788%...Complete can also be seen as My Dying Bride trying to play catch up with the other two main UK doom metal bands of that era. Either way, 34.788%...Complete is a sort of extemporary experiment that is brave and at times interesting, but that ultimately falls inexorably flat.

The idea of mixing doom/gothic metal with industrial and electronic influences is actually quite promising, as the opener “The Whore, the Cook and the Mother” shows. This track is by far the best of the album. In fact, I’d say it is the ONLY song of the record that actually works. The abrasive industrial guitar intro is jarring and unexpected, and it immediately grabs the listener’s attention. Aaron Stainthorpe’s slow-paced singing paints the usual dramatic atmospheres, but the distorted filter that is used to process his vocals adds a layer of urban grit that makes things fresh and exciting. The guitar lead is instead quintessential My Dying Bride doom, creating a nice contrast with the futuristic feel of Aaron’s vocals and the industrial rhythm guitar. The track then dissolves into a music collage of acoustic arpeggios, background noise and sampled vocals, another unexpected turn that keeps the listener guessing what may come next. It’s a great track and an excellent example of how to develop the band’s sound without feeling forced or losing their sonic identity.

Alas, the rest of the record does not even come close to matching the promise of its opener. The main reason is that in none of the other songs does the band succeed in mixing the new influences in a natural and fluid way as on the opener. “The Stance of Evander Sinque”, “Der Überlebende”, “Apocalypse Woman”, and “Base Level Erotica” are all songs that feel completely underdeveloped, where the songwriting technique seems to have been to throw-in a couple of industrial riffs, electronic flourishes or futuristic guitar effects, while firmly staying in the usual comfort zone of the band’s old doom/goth sound (not too far distant from the music on Like Ghost of the Sun). It all feels artificial and not really thought through. I get the distinctive feel that the band was not quite sure in which direction to take their music. Or perhaps this is the symptom of a reticence to fully embrace the new influences in order to avoid alienating too many fans.

Things get even more puzzling when one considers “Heroin Chic”, which is the most outlandishly experimental track of the album. And not in a good way. This is an electronica/trip hop song with some soulful female singing (by Michelle Richfield, who also sang for Anathema and Antimatter) and, shockingly, a sort of (very poor) rapped vocals by Aaron. After the first minute, when the initial surprise wanes off, the song quickly becomes unlistenable as it continues in the same vein for another seven minutes with bad lyrics, bad vocals, and a rather insipid musical background. I have nothing against experimenting with electronica/trip hop and in fact I love the early electronic-infused albums by the aforementioned Antimatter, for instance. But “Heroin Chic” really feels like a parody of a band who wants to mix electronica and metal, rather than a serious attempt to merge the two genres. Again, this leaves me wondering what My Dying Bride were trying to do with this album.

In the end, I am not quite sure the band knew themselves. The new sonic “direction” was quickly abandoned, and only after one year My Dying Bride were already back in the shops with a new record (The Light at the End of the World) that took three steps back in terms of sound, scrapping all industrial/electronic influences and returning to a style closer to Turn Loose the Swans (growls included). Overall, 34.788%...Complete is probably best remembered as a child of its times, when many metal bands were looking beyond the boundaries of the genre to experiment with new sounds and influences. In some cases (Anathema, for example), this worked splendidly. In others, it failed ruinously. Either way, I respect My Dying Bride for trying, although this is not an album that I can see myself listening to again any time soon.

UMUR "34.788%...Complete" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. The album was released through Peaceville Records in October 1998. It´s the successor to "Like Gods of the Sun" from 1996 and features a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as drummer Rick Miah has been replaced by Bill Law and keyboard player/violinist Martin Powell has also left. Powell has not been replaced and the keyboards featured on "34.788%...Complete" are therefore performed by engineer Keith Appleton and producer Robert "Mags" Magoolagan. "34.788%...Complete" is the first My Dying Bride album to not feature violin.

Stylistically the material on "34.788%...Complete" is quite different from the melancholic gothic tinged doom metal style of "Like Gods of the Sun (1996)", and it´s not just the lack of sad violin parts which make the two albums very different listening experiences. It´s obvious from listening to "34.788%...Complete" that My Dying Bride at this point felt a need to experiment with their sound to prevent stagnation, and experiment they do. The basis of the music is still heavy riffs and rhythms and in that respect "34.788%...Complete" is a doom metal album. Aaron Stainthorpe still only performs clean vocals, but his vocals are more varied here than on the preceding releases. Sometimes I´m reminded of Nick Cave ("Heroin Chic"), but Stainthorpe also performs his usual gothic tinged dark vocals.

It´s in the songwriting department that there have been most changes, and the band now add semi-progressive ideas and avant garde tinged moments to their doom metal. The 11:59 minutes long "The Whore, the Cook and the Mother" which opens the album is one of the tracks on the album most similiar to what came before in terms of being a heavy and epic doom metal track (although keyboards are used a bit more than what we´ve been used to from the band on past releases). The atmospheric part in the middle of the track is one of the most beautiful melancholic sections in the band´s discography, and the most beautiful thing about it is how simple it is. A very simple acoustic guitar melody with underlying atmosphere enhancing keyboards and spoken words and samples. The spoken word part is similar in style to the replicant interrogation method from the sci-fi movie "Blade Runner (1982)", with the interogator asking questions in Cantonese and Stainthorpe answering in English. It´s one of the highlights of the album and one of the standout tracks in the band´s discograpy.

The remaining tracks don´t reach the heights of the opener though, and although they aren´t bad quality material, the highligts are few and far between. "Heroin Chic" stands out as it´s a very different sounding track, with the use of electronics, female vocals, some dark and sexually themed lyrics, and the above mentioned Nick Cave influenced vocals by Stainthorpe, but I´m not sure I would call it great. It´s just...different. Some of the other tracks have moments here and there which are intriguing enough, but none of them stand out as anything special.

"34.788%...Complete" features a detailed, powerful, and well sounding production job, and the sound production suits the material well. There´s no arguing that "34.788%...Complete" is the odd one out in the band´s discography (along with "Evinta (2011)"), but personally I think it was a bold move by the band to create something this different after achieving great success with the gothic tinged doom metal style of the two direct predecessors. It shows how uncompromising My Dying Bride are and have always been, and although "34.788%...Complete" isn´t the greatest album of their career and some songwriting ideas work better than others (if anything make sure you give "The Whore, the Cook and the Mother" a listen), I still think it´s an interesting release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

siLLy puPPy All great bands who experience some level of success face the same conundrum if they manage to stick around long enough to face it and that is the classic dilemma of simply following the same formula of the era that launched them into the limelight of their classic period or to sally forth into new experimental battlefields and tackle hitherto unexplored nooks and crannies of the musical world. While MY DYING BRIDE had already developed their classic sound before they released their debut album “As The Flower Withers,” they successfully walked the tightrope of retaining their unique stylistic approach while changing things up slightly on all of their first four albums. However after the release of “Like Gods Of The Sun,” big changes took place mostly by the departure of the one member, Martin Powell, the major component of the bands signature sound with his stellar violin and keyboard playing. Powell left MY DYING BRIDE and joined Anathema.

Instead of replacing him, MY DYING BRIDE decided to take the opportunity to leap into the world of the unexpected and crank out something unlike anything they’d done before and in the process, the electrifying violin of their previous albums had been completely dropped and would not return until 2009’s “For Lies I Sire.” If that wasn’t enough drummer Rich Miah also jumped shipped and his shoes were filled by Bill Law. Like it or not big change was in the air and MY DYING BRIDE simply took the bull by the horns and cranked out the most out of character albums of their career with 34.788%…COMPLETE which fully embraced the quirky 90s values and steered their gothic doom metal vessels into the the seas of alternative metal, trip hop and the avant-garde. While boldly sailing into the unknown, this album has remained their most controversial moment which in many ways demonstrates the complacency of the metal fans in how they usually frown upon such departures from what came before.

There is no doubt that 34.788%…COMPLETE is a strange album indeed, not only for MY DYING BRIDE but for metal in general. Despite a radical new approach, this album for the most part is unmistakably performed by the doom metal pioneers who came before even without the violin as the synthesized atmospheric backdrop usurps the role albeit in a less effective way. While “Like Gods Of The Sun,” opted for shorter more digestible tracks, 34.788%…COMPLETE jumps back into the sprawling epic approach of their earlier albums with most tracks having around the eight minute mark and the opening “The Whore, The Cook And The Mother” extending all the way to twelve. While the first chugging riffs and new vocal style of Aaron Stainthorpe buried under the muddy distorted riffs may sound like a completely new band, the compositional style renders clues with familiar musical flow, alternations between heavier passages and subdued ambient breathing time. This is MY DYING BRIDE, just a very strange version as if this was released in an alternate dimensional reality.

Perhaps the most identifying feature of 34.788%…COMPLETE is the liberal use of production techniques that allow electronica influenced reverberations, echoes effects and synthesized timbres decorate the otherwise heavy plodding doom riffs. Another different feature is the more dynamic use of the dual guitar attack of Andrew Craighan and Calvin Robertshaw as one relentlessly delivers heavily accented doom stomps while the other offers licks that implement pig squeals and even an occasional solo. Perhaps no other feature seems as alien as the trip hop techniques adopted from 90s acts such as Portishead and Massive Attack. While the eight minute track “Heroin Chic” is the standout in how it takes a simple electronic beat and structures minimalistic counterpoints around it while Stainthorpe and guest vocalist Michelle Richfield offer a strange back alley ritualistic salute to the drug scene, the truth is that the overall musical construct of the compositions retains a rather nonchalant trip hoppy free floating vector.

MY DYING BRIDE seemed like they could do no wrong with several albums delivering some of the most sophisticated take on doom metal that fans had ever heard however the response to 34.788%…COMPLETE was not a positive one as it alienated most fans expecting the next subtle step away from “Like Gods Of The Sun.” Personally i don’t find this album to be the horrible monster that it’s made out to be. After all, MY DYING BRIDE were masters of adapting their goth doom sensibilities to the most extreme opposing musical forces and that is still the case with 34.788%…COMPLETE. The problem with this album is that it lacks consistency. While the initial tracks establish an acceptable new strain of their goth doom / alternative hybridization, the album derails in the middle with the admittedly irritating “Heroine Chic” which serves as an eight minute blackhole that completely extinguishes any acceptance of what could have been.

The track is followed by the mediocrity of “Apocalypse Woman” but regains steam with the bass heavy and return to doom guitar prominence splendor of “Base Level Erotica,” which sounds most like a more familiar MY DYING BRIDE of yore complete with Stainthorpe’s plaintive goth-tinged vocal style. For my money, 34.788%…COMPLETE is actually a decent album with a few fatal flaws. With a running time of approaching a full hour’s length, the two aforementioned tracks should have simply been nixed from the final cut since they inconveniently slice through the alternative doom prowess established during the first part of the album and continued with the ending tracks “Base Level Erotica” and “Under Your Wingers And Into Your Arms.” Yeah, experimentation is never guaranteed even for the most successful bands who feel they can take any liberties that they wish. 34.788%…COMPLETE was a bold move indeed and mostly works for me. If the two overlong middle tracks were removed this would be a 4 star album for me but as it is only a 3.5 since the remaining tracks are really strong examples of the unlikely mix of alternative goth doom.

Warthur This took a while to grow on me. 34.788%...Complete finds My Dying Bride radically experimenting with their sound, and whilst I can respect them for not simply settling into the mode established by The Angel and the Dark River and Like Gods of the Sun, the results are somewhat variable - I've come to like some of these sonic departures a bit more than I did, but at the same time I think the band were operating well out of their comfort zone here and could have done with giving some parts of the album a bit more work before unleashing the final results.

What threw me off is that the album is trying to combine a more accessible and commercial sound with a deeply inaccessible compositional approach, with the band pivoting towards gothy-industrial rock in a sort of Marilyn Manson or Stabbing Westward vein at some points whilst at others delving in to trip-hop, but they are still basing their approach around long compositions.

If you value their death-doom sound, this will take quite some getting used to, and it's only after a while that you'll be able to piece together how they're still using the sort of song structures they always have, just with a different sonic pallette. The end result is a bit of a mixed bag - some of it has become a little dated, a little too obvious in its pursuit of the late 1990s zeitgeist, but other parts hold up - and all the songs in here will have sections that fall into both of those categories.