My Dying Bride Post “Feel the Misery” Video
Twenty-five years and 12 albums later, My Dying Bride have more or less just come out and said it. It’s hard to know if the title of their new record, Feel the Misery — out Friday on Peaceville — is an insistence, an invitation or a recommendation, but what’s plain is that the long-running UK outfit have been trafficking in that misery for a quarter of a century and they stand among the foremost experts in the world when it comes to its nuances and the dramatic effect it can have on a listener. Their ability to conjure bleak atmospheres into depressive, theatrical proclamations has influenced a generation of doomers, and they’re still the masters when it comes to crafting grand visions of downtrodden emotionality.
A new video for the title-track from Feel the Misery has just been unveiled, and between seeing frontman Aaron Stainthorpe play a loner artist in a candlelit basement — my understanding is that’s also the method by which is writes the band’s lyrics — and the fact that it takes its inspiration from the classic painting The Raft of Medusa, well, it’s hard to imagine a more suitable visual accompaniment for the track itself, right down to the strange shadowplay and British flag washed ashore at the end. Director James Sharrock ties it to the current migrant crisis in Europe, but whether you’re looking for current (unfortunately) political metaphor or not, the visual resonance holds, and My Dying Bride‘s grueling melancholy is as prevalent as ever.
Enjoy:
My Dying Bride, “Feel the Misery” official video
MY DYING BRIDE LAUNCHES “FEEL THE MISERY” MUSIC VIDEO
12th studio album “Feel the Misery” out September 18 on Peaceville
My Dying Bride’s latest opus and 12th full studio album, Feel the Misery, is set for release on September 18 on Peaceville Records. It can be pre-ordered on CD, vinyl, plus a special edition 2CD/2×10 vinyl set in deluxe earbook format with exclusive music and expanded booklet, online at: https://burningshed.com/store/peaceville/.
Using ‘The Raft of Medusa’ by French romantic painter Théodore Géricault as visual inspiration, as well as taking cues from the band’s own bleak and foreboding music, My Dying Bride’s latest video is a harrowing tale of tragedy and loss.
Filmed on the stunning Pembroke coast of South Wales, and in particular St. Govan’s Chapel, the scenes were set to play out the narrative as vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe takes the role of a lone musician and poet who stumbles upon a fallen maiden while combing the seascape for curiosities. Clearly the victim of a recent shipwreck, she is gathered up and removed to a suitable, somber resting place, all the while the mournful “Feel the Misery” plays alongside, marrying the rich visuals with the melancholic song.
Directed by James Sharrock (http://www.invadetvproductions.com/) and Ryan Mackfall, Sharrock explains: “The concept for ‘Feel the Misery’ has been in my head for a while. It is loosely based on the famous painting ‘Raft of Medusa’ by Theodore Gericault painted in 1819, and when I heard the song it invoked the creative idea I had been thinking about.
“In May this year I read in the news reports of a ‘Ghost ship’ carrying 350 starving Rohingya Muslims vanishing off Thailand. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand refused to engage in search-and-rescue operations, instead pushing the boats back to sea, letting the people starve and refusing to accept the asylum seekers – similar to the story behind ‘Raft of Medusa.’ It was only later in the year as we were filming the music video down around the Pembrokeshire coast that the media took a greater interest in the deaths of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. The song has allowed me to bring to life not only issues that are currently facing us all, but a masterpiece that reflects a similar tragedy from centuries ago.”
My Dying Bride on Thee Facebooks
Tags: Feel the Misery, My Dying Bride, My Dying Bride Feel the Misery, Peaceville Records, UK
