Founding MY DYING BRIDE Members Join Forces In TOWARDS THE SINISTER

Unceremoniously dismissed in 2025 from the band he co-founded and fronted for 35 years, former MY DYING BRIDE singer Aaron Stainthorpe has returned with TOWARDS THE SINISTER, a new project featuring three of his ex-bandmates, Calvin Robertshaw (guitar),Ade Jackson (bass) and Rick Miah (drums). The new outfit also features second guitarist Chris Revett, keyboardist Mark Deeks and violinist Emma Allington — all with the intent of faithfully paying homage to MY DYING BRIDE's classic first four studio albums of utterly dark, dreary and miserable doom metal. The band's immediate plans include a handful of small warm-up gigs in their native England, accompanied by European festival slots by the time next summer comes around.

TOWARDS THE SINISTER brings together key architects of MY DYING BRIDE's classic era to celebrate and resurrect the dark, mournful atmosphere that helped define the death-doom genre. The lineup features Stainthorpe, founding MY DYING BRIDE members Robertshaw and Miah, and original bassist Jackson, performing material drawn primarily from the band's seminal early releases including "As The Flower Withers", "Turn Loose The Swans", "The Angel And The Dark River" and "Like Gods Of The Sun". It is a rare opportunity to witness the musicians who helped create this music returning to the songs that established MY DYING BRIDE as one of the most influential and enduring names in gothic doom metal.

Regarding how TOWARDS THE SINISTER came together, Aaron told BLABBERMOUTH.NET: "I've not seen Calvin, Rick or Ade for a decade. They don't live a million miles away. I ran into Calvin a couple of times at a festival in Scarborough up the northeast coast called Fortress Fest. I bumped into him a couple of times there, but that's really about it. It was only when, I think, MY DYING BRIDE issued this statement 'firing' me that these guys came out of the shadows with loads of support, which was wonderful. It was great to hear from them. They suggested, 'Let's get together for a drink for old times' sake.' We met in a pub. Martin [Powell], our old violin player, tagged along. Dave Pybus, who used to be in ANATHEMA and worked for Peaceville Records, tagged along. We all had a really good catch-up. It was great fun. This was in October of last year. We didn't discuss anything about reforming. We took a photo of all of us. I popped it on the socials, and that got people talking. And that got us talking. Honestly, we were talking about the old times. The ridiculous times. We did this festival, we did that gig, we got drunk here, we fell over there. It was brilliant. Then we were complaining about arthritic knees and all that stuff. The Internet sort of decided, 'I wonder if they're getting together?' I got messages from Rick and Calvin, saying, 'Should we have another get-together and discuss what the Internet is discussing?' I said, 'All right. Why not?' We got together, and after a few more drinks, we sort of thought about the idea. No single person instigated it. As I said, I think the Internet instigated it. We mulled it over. Could we pull it off? Do we want to, more importantly? Rick was so keen to get behind the drum kit. Chomping at the bit, really. It's been a long time for him. Calvin has had his own project, MANY SUFFER, which is great. You've got to remember: We, back when we were kids, helped write those early MY DYING BRIDE albums. We're on them. We penned them. And we thought, 'Yeah, let's play them again.'"

As for which MY DYING BRIDE songs TOWARDS THE SINISTER is planning on performing, Aaron said: "[It will be material from] the first four albums. That's the songs these guys wrote. They're not interested in performing songs they didn't help write. It's the first four-album period, which we'll concentrate on and which is the best period, according to the fans. I don't see it myself; I've been writing MY DYING BRIDE songs for years and years. The rest of the boys, they're not interested in playing stuff they didn't write. The focus is the first four. We'll do all of the classics. Obviously, we can't do them all at the same time, but we have a decent setlist. You know what it's like: There will be people in the audience screaming for songs that aren't in the setlist, but they will be the next time we come around. We plan to play as many of them as we can, even some that have never been played live. We're going to look into all of them."

Regarding the possibility of TOWARDS THE SINISTER writing and recording new music, Aaron said: "Yes, there will be new material. Calvin never stops writing. I think he's working on his second MANY SUFFER album, but he has written some stuff that won't fit with MANY SUFFER but will work with us. I don't think MANY SUFFER is a great deal like MY DYING BRIDE; it's certainly more death metal. You have to remember, MY DYING BRIDE did a lot of death metal. It wasn't all doom. A lot of that was Calvin's riffs. We've got some new stuff. Like, a couple of songs that Calvin's mooted to us, saying, 'Would these work?' They're definitely going to work. But we're not in any rush to do that."

Last October, MY DYING BRIDE announced that it had officially parted ways with Stainthorpe. The news came less than a year after MY DYING BRIDE recruited singer Mikko Kotamäki (SWALLOW THE SUN) to front the band for its live appearances in 2025 and beyond.

At the time of the announcement, MY DYING BRIDE stated about the split with Stainthorpe: "Please understand that this decision does not come lightly, hence our initial and painful silence while we gathered our thoughts and carefully considered our response to the disengaged, eerily abandoned state we suddenly found ourselves in.

"Our collective decision to move forward without him is not something we thought we would ever be forced to say, but to ensure a continued legacy for what we hold dear to our hearts, we simply have to move past this. Whilst change can be difficult, we are doing our best to bring this new chapter forward with powerful positivity."

MY DYING BRIDE's latest album, "A Mortal Binding" — featuring Stainthorpe on vocals — came out in April 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Aaron's recently formed band HIGH PARASITE released its debut album, "Forever We Burn", in September 2024 via Candlelight/Spinefarm. The LP was produced by Gregor Mackintosh of PARADISE LOST.

Photo credit: Jonny Hunter