Decibrity Playlist: Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride) (Part 2)

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To celebrate the release of A Map Of All Our Failures, last week My Dying Bride vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe (that’s him in the middle) went through the first half of My Dying Bride’s discography to tell us about an album that he was listening to while writing/recording each LP. As he told us, “They have not necessarily influenced the sound of our recording, but they’ve made life in the music world very much worth living and I thank them all for that.” Now, starting with 1999’s The Light At The End Of The World, we present the second half of his picks, which you can listen along to here.
https://youtu.be/V6QUCF_h3YE

The Light At The End Of The World (1999) :: Depeche Mode’s Violator
Electro pop misery from England—what’s not to like? I was a member of their fan club once upon a time and still have a 7″ flexi disc for signing up, what a treasure!

The Dreadful Hours (2001) :: Mazzy Star’s Among My Swan
The effortless beauty and innocence in Hope Sandoval’s voice still pulls my heart strings today. What initially sounds like a summertime LP, all glowing and golden, soon turns to utter misery with a picnic of melancholy thrown in for good measure.

Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light (2004) :: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ Murder Ballads
The only LP in my entire collection where every single song on it is brilliant. A supreme wordsmith backed by a top notch band performing tunes of deviance and destruction—with Kylie! What more do you want?

A Line of Deathless Kings (2006) :: Trouble’s Run To The Light
A doom classic before they went a bit stoner. Weirdly effective vocals from Eric Wagner with crushing guitar work and pounding drums from the rest of the boys make for one seriously morbid release—from a Christian band no less.

For Lies I Sire (2009) :: Swans’ The Burning World
If the likes of Celtic Frost and Candlemass helped instigate the birth of My Dying Bride, then Swans kept the engines firing on all miserable cylinders. So good, we even covered one of their tracks. A masterpiece.

A Map Of All Our Failures (2012) :: Grinderman’s Grinderman 2
Sees Nick Cave back with Warren Ellis and the lads in much dirtier form with screeching violins, manic guitars, frenzied vocals and all manner of cacophony afoot. It’s nasty and naughty and doesn’t give a fuck—hail to that!