UMUR "Towards the Sinister" is the first demo recording by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. It´s the band´s first and only demo release and it was independently released in February 1991 (originally on cassette tape). The band were at this point a four-piece consisting of Aaron Stainthorpe on vocals, Andrew Craighan on guitars and keyboards, Calvin Robertshaw on guitars, and Rick Miah on drums.

The demo contains four tracks and a total playing time of 23:27 minutes. Both "The Grief of Age" and "Catching Feathers" are exclusive to this release while re-recorded and re-arranted versions of "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" and "Vast Choirs" would appear on subsequent studio releases by the band. The former on the "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" (1992) EP while the latter would appear on My Dying Bride´s debut full-length studio album "As The Flower Withers" (1992). While there are certainly crushingly heavy and doomy parts on the demo, the paced is often mid-paced and there are even some faster sections in some songs. So this is definitely the fastest and most old school death metal release from My Dying Bride featuring only hints at what they would do only a few years down the line (that is ultra heavy and sollow filled doom/death metal). The vocals are predominantly deep growls although Stainthorpe adds a more raw and aggressive edge to some parts. His tortured clean vocal delivery would only appear on later releases.

While the music on the album is actually pretty solid compared to other releases in the genre from the early nineties, the production drags this demo down. The sound is muddy and not even close to being professional. I thought it was a rehearsal demo until I read that the demo was actually recorded and mixed in Nov. 24-25, 1990 at Revolver Studios, UK. So this is a warts and all type demo release, but there´s enough dark charm and gloomy promise here to warrant a 2.5 star (50%) rating.

siLLy puPPy Before MY DYING BRIDE released their attention getting single “God Is Alone” which got them a ticket in the club of the “Peaceville Three” (meaning they got a contract with Peaceville Records at the same time as Anathema and Paradise Lost), they released this one demo TOWARDS THE SINISTER all the way back in 1990 after the two main founders Aaron Stainthorpe and Andrew Craighan found some buddies in their native Bradford, England music scene and churned out some of the very first examples of death / doom metal.

This short demo contains four tracks with “Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium” clocking in at 8 minutes and 33 seconds thus already displaying a healthy dose of sophistication and progressive outlook at the very earliest stages of the band’s formation. While the production quality is quite horrible as the band used older analog equipment, the music is already quite developed and sounds very much like the the death / doom metal heard on the debut album “As The Flower Withers” with long well thought out compositions and developments.

Like the first two death / doom metal releases by the band, this demo Stainthorpe only uses death growls for vocals. The guitars range from the Sabbath / Pentagram old school doom metal riffs to more energetic old school thrash and death metal riffs. While they haven’t added their signature violin melancholy quite yet, the keyboards that are present are already adding that sombre lugubrious effect as to give the music a very unique identity.

“Symphonie Infernus” was re-recorded and released on their first release as an EP while “Vast Choirs” would be re-recorded and appear on “As The Flower Withers.” TOWARDS THE SINISTER is hardly essential even for diehard fans even though the other two tracks “The Grief Of Age” and “Catching Feathers” were never re-recorded and placed upon other albums because all of the tracks were included on the “Meisterwerk” compilations. This demo was only ever released as a cassette and sounds like crap in the production department but a fun little listen for history’s sake and of course, excellent music that was already quite accomplished.