My Dying Bride appears to not only have a faithful fanbase in Greece but also a large one. Thus  on Sunday the 31st of January, quite a large crowd of fans of their dark and depressing music made its way to Gagarin 205 in order to enjoy the British sextet put on an impressive performance both in terms of their music but also their stage presence.

Supporting them were locals Shattered Hope, whose show went very well even if there were some small sound issues, mainly the fact that the keyboards appeared and disappeared from the mix. Despite this they presented the tracks from their debut album, which as they said will be released in 2010, very well. Apart from the fans that I believe they gained that night, they are definitely a band to look out for.

At 21:27, bang on time, My Dying Bride take the stage after a short soundcheck and a imposing intro. They begin their set with “Fall With Me”, under much applause from the audience and sink Gagarin into their own metal melancholy. Aaron Stainthorpe proves a most capable frontman, drawing all eyes upon him with his theatricality and justifying the adoration that shows the female part of the audience is displaying. The male part is mainly focused however on bass player Lena Abé, who was the visual counterpoint to Aaron. The show continued with an edited version of “The Whore, The Cook And The Mother” and the fans continue to applaud the British doomsters. As far as stage presence is concerned, apart from Stainthorpe, the rest of the band maintains a firm and rigid appearance, which both suits their music and lets the audience concentrate on Aaron’s performance. Craighan and Glencross were poised at the right and left sides of the stage, performing their heavy riff with stoic capability, while Mullins and Macgowan though interred behind the drums and the keys respectively, fully lived up to expectations.

The setlist, as expected, was based a little more on their latest release, with three tracks from the album played live. But all their studio albums were represented with a song from each one being played.

Towards the end of the gig Aaron spoke to us a little more, thanking the audience for the warm reception and promising that it won’t be 7 years before we see them live again. They briefly left the stage, in order to return with “Here In The Throat” and “Bring Me Victory” and end the show with a second encore (something that we often do not see) and “The Cry Of Mankind”.

All in all the band delivered, with a comprehensive setlist, a very good sound, incredible stage presence mostly from Aaron Stainthorpe and a lot of adoration from the fans. Let’s hope their next appearance will be in less than 30 years.

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