My Dying Bride’s first album is a powerful and thoughtful work, and also a portent of future doom majesty. Tracks like “Sear Me” and “The Bitterness and the Bereavement” show off the band’s captivating mix of death and doom metal with their soaring, intertwined guitars, methodical pacing, and, of course, Aaron Stainthorpe’s devilish growl. The massive guitars and maniacal laughs of “Vast Choirs” give it a blackened aftertaste while maintaining a beautifully swampy ambiance.