Feel the Misery

2015 studio album by My Dying Bride
Feel the Misery
The core of the album cover features the Virgin Mary on a stain-glass window, with the album name embroidered on tapesty in medieval writing, covering a globe of the Earth. The corners of the cover show red chain symbols.
Studio album by
My Dying Bride
Released18 September 2015 (2015-09-18)
RecordedOctober 2014 to January 2015 at Academy Studios, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Genre
  • Doom metal
  • gothic metal
  • death-doom
Length62:37
LabelPeaceville
My Dying Bride chronology
A Map of All Our Failures
(2012) 		Feel the Misery
(2015) 		The Ghost of Orion
(2020)

Feel the Misery is the 12th studio album by British heavy metal band My Dying Bride. It was released on 18 September 2015 on Peaceville Records.[1]

Background

The album features the return of guitarist Calvin Robertshaw, replacing Hamish Glencross. Hamish departed amicably to focus on his other band, Vallenfyre.[2] Andrew Craighan, the principal songwriter for the album, observed that he felt "a brand new freedom" during the creative process.[3] He explained further his sense of creative freedom: "To give some insight into the mentality behind this album, once I started writing, I just thought, I'm going to write music I like. If it fails, I'll take the slings and arrows."[2]

Craighan has stated the album is, contrary to the title, not the most miserable album in the band's discography, suggesting that it was distinguished by "stronger more direct songs, more hints of death doom through fog-cloaked slithering ambience. It's a more colourful record even if they are mostly hints of colour that's actually bleakness."[4] Craighan noted that "the album title is probably being misunderstood"[5] and clarified that

It’s not My Dying Bride that’s saying Feel The Misery, it’s a statement of society in general. Our jailers are being exposed for what they are and in an attempt to keep control, we have more conflict, more division, more hate and lies. None of it is actually necessary. Feel The Misery is actually a question designed to provoke (probably naively) a thought as to why it’s like this, have anyone of us actually thought who benefits from bombing each other constantly for example? Follow the money and it becomes pretty clear who’s in charge and who benefits from the division.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Metal Injectionpositive[7]
Loudwirepositive[8]
musicOMH[9]
Exclaim!(8/10)[10]

Feel the Misery received generally positive reviews. Greg Pratt of Exclaim!, Sam Shepherd of musicOMH and Chad Bowar of Loudwire all described the album as a following the band's formula. Pratt wrote that "All told, there are no big surprises here, which is great: My Dying Bride rule at what they do, and this is a very well executed, classy, and moving doom album. "[10] Shepherd emphasized the album as "deliver[ing] an album that cements their reputation."[9] Bowar commented that "The band doesn’t stray far from their comfort zone on the album, and that works very well for them."[8]

Reviewers awarded a large amount of praise to the opening track, "And My Father Left Forever," with James Zalucky of Metal Injection calling the track "surprisingly energetic and bouncy"[7] and Thom Jurek of AllMusic remarking that the track "is a showcase for the band's signature dual-guitar sonics and Aaron Stainthorpe's clean vocals.[6]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."And My Father Left Forever"9:22
2."To Shiver in Empty Halls"9:46
3."A Cold New Curse"9:02
4."Feel the Misery"6:20
5."A Thorn of Wisdom"5:04
6."I Celebrate Your Skin"6:53
7."I Almost Loved You"5:28
8."Within a Sleeping Forest"10:42
Total length:62:37[6]

Personnel

Charts

Charts (2015) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] 72
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12] 60
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[13] 183
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 35
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[15] 33
French Albums (SNEP)[16] 172
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 57

References

  1. ^ "MY DYING BRIDE INVITES YOU TO FEEL THE MISERY. NEW ALBUM COMING SEPTEMBER 18th". My Dying Bride. 25 June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b Randall, Lord. "Interview: My Dying Bride on the Band's Framework, Writing Unapologetically". New Noise Magazine. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  3. ^ Bowar, Chad. "My Dying Bride Interview: A Conversation with Guitarist Andrew Craighan". About.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  4. ^ Oz, Diamond. "My Dying Bride Guitarist Andrew Craighan Discusses "Feel The Misery" And The Band's Legacy". Metal Underground. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b Brown, Gavin. "Interview: Andrew Craighan from My Dying Bride". Echoes and Dust. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Jurek, Thom (18 September 2015). "Feel the Misery - My Dying Bride". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  7. ^ a b Zalucky, James (18 September 2015). "Album Review: MY DYING BRIDE Feel the Misery". Metal Injection. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b Bowar, Chad (18 September 2015). "My Dying Bride, 'Feel the Misery' – Album Review". Loudwire. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  9. ^ a b Shepherd, Sam (25 September 2015). "My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery". musicOMH. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  10. ^ a b Pratt, Greg (16 September 2015). "My Dying Bride Feel the Misery". Exclaim!. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Austriancharts.at – My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Ultratop.be – My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Ultratop.be – My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  15. ^ "My Dying Bride: Feel The Misery" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Lescharts.com – My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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