Turn Loose the Swans

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Turn Loose the Swans
Turn Loose the Swans Album Cover.jpg
Studio album by
Released11 October 1993
RecordedJune–July 1993
Genre
Length58:15
Label Peaceville
Producer Robert 'Mags' Magoolagan, My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride chronology
The Thrash of Naked Limbs
(1993)
Turn Loose the Swans
(1993)
The Angel and the Dark River
(1995)

Turn Loose the Swans is the second album by the British heavy metal band My Dying Bride, released in 1993.

Contents

It marked a radical departure from the band's first full-length, As the Flower Withers . Martin Powell's violin playing had become fully integrated into the band's sound, whilst vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe mixed death metal growls and grunts with the spoken word and an often plaintive singing voice. The first ("Sear Me MCMXCIII") and final ("Black God") tracks dispensed with guitars, bass and drums altogether, while the album was also far slower and longer than its predecessor. For these reasons, Turn Loose the Swans is often considered to be important in the development of the death-doom sound My Dying Bride helped pioneer and also foreshadows the gothic metal elements that would dominate their subsequent albums.

Though far from straightforward, Aaron Stainthorpe's lyrics were much less complex than those employed on As the Flower Withers . He explicitly addressed themes such as anti-Christianity and lovelorn longing. "Black God" took its lyrics from the last eight lines of a poem called "Ah! The Shepherd's Mournful Fate" by the 18th-century Scottish poet William Hamilton.

The artwork for the release was designed and created by Aaron Stainthorpe and Andrew Craighan.

Song information

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 8/10 [4]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

Professional reviews:

In October 2011 it was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe. [7]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Sear Me MCMXCIII"7:24
2."Your River"9:24
3."The Songless Bird"7:00
4."The Snow in My Hand"7:08
5."The Crown of Sympathy"12:15
6."Turn Loose the Swans"10:08
7."Black God"4:52
Total length:58:11

Bonus tracks on the 2003 reissue

  1. "Le Cerf Malade" – 6:31
  2. "Transcending (Into the Exquisite)" – 8:39
  3. "Your Shameful Heaven (live)" – 5:56

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Notes

  1. "The Best Metal Albums From 40 Subgenres". Loudwire . Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  2. Divita, Joe (13 September 2017). "Top 25 Doom Metal Albums of All Time". Loudwire . Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  3. Anderson, Jason. Turn Loose the Swans review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-21.
  4. Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 301. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
  5. Darzin, Daina (5 May 1994). "Metal Thunder". Rolling Stone . No. 681. p. 52.
  6. Darzin, Daina (5 May 1994). "Chaos A.D. : Sepultura : Review". Rolling Stone Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  7. "As Adele hits thirteen times platinum across Europe, over 60 artists pick up IMPALA Sales Awards, including Manel, Bon Iver, Miossec, dEUS, Agnes Obel and The Horrors". Impala Music. 12 October 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.

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