Turn Loose the Swans

"Turn Loose the Swans" is the second album by the British doom metal band My Dying Bride, released 11th October 1993 on the Peaceville Records label and remastered in 2013. 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.