My Dying Bride formed in the dying summer of 1990 by vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe and guitarist Andrew Craighan. Recognized as the kings of doom-death, their albums Turn Loose the Swans (1993), The Angel and the Dark River (1995), Like Gods of the Sun (1996), 34.788%... Complete (1997), The Dreadful Hours (2001), and A Map of All Our Failures (2012) weren’t merely hour-plus long slabs of suffering but calendar moments, where desolation, sorrow, and all things blue (in dirge form) were passionately trumpeted and celebrated by fans absolutely devoted. My Dying Bride albums became life events for the low spirited and downhearted. Indeed, few bands in the ‘90s sounded like the Brits.

The band’s new album The Ghost of Orion, their fourteenth to date, was written in isolation by Craighan. The guitarist had nobody off which to soundboard. And certainly not his long-time writing partner in Stainthorpe, who was entirely ensconced in providing mental and physical reinforcements to his daughter’s battle with cancer during that time. Alone, Craighan unfurled a litany of killer songs in “Your Broken Shore,” “To Outlive the Gods,” “But Once Black” (featuring Lindy-Fay Hella of Wardruna fame), “A Secret Kiss,” and “The Old Earth.” The rest, as they say, is history.