Gig review: My Dying Bride + Mammon’s Throne at the Metro, Sydney

Live review: My Dying Bride and Mammon’s Throne at the Metro Theatre, Sydney, on Tuesday,  September 16 2025

By BRIAN GIFFIN

MY Dying Bride have been on this writer’s list of bands to see since time immemorial. 

Various times they have teased the possibility of a visit, without follow up until this surprise two-date tour. The absence of Aaron Stainthorpe and the early weeknight date probably kept a few potential attendees away, but those who turned out were not about to be disappointed too much.

Mammon’s Throne get proceedings underway in appropriate fashion. Theirs is a sludge-drenched doom-death with sprawling songs, twin vocalists trading off and an enthusiastic and talented lead guitarist that adds a depth of melodicism to their dark and rumbling sound. A couple of times they come a little too close for comfort to the headliners, yet in a wheelhouse that band helped to build, that’s to be expected and Mammon’s Throne are hardly just pale imitators. If there was a criticism, it was that the vocal mix was a bit garbled and over-distorted in places but they set the scene for what was to come very well.

Finally the moment arrived. My Dying Bride entered the stage and with little more than a brief wave from a suitably spectral-looking Lena Abé, stepped right into “A Kiss To Remember”. 

It was flawless. Dark and beautiful, malignant and sorrowful. Minor key riffs descending, violin sawing. All that remained was to see what touring vocalist Mikko Kotamäki was going to bring, considering he was standing in for one of metal’s most unique voices. 

We never really found out. Where Mammon’s Throne’s singer had been wildly distorted, Kotamäki was simply buried deep in the mix. It wasn’t until late in the set, with the clean opening to “Feel The Misery”, that he can really be made out. 

And yet that didn’t detract from the performance all that much. Entrancing and mesmerising, My Dying Bride wove their dark magic. With such a long career and so many dark and haunting classics to choose from, the band dug deep: for every standout classic of the genre like “The Cry Of Mankind” and “Like Gods Of The Sun” there was the long-neglected “The Snow In My Hands”, the heavier and faster parts of which came close to getting a real mosh started. From the latest album, “The 2nd of Three Bells” and the monolithic “The Apocalyptist” served as reminders of how malevolent and bewitchling My Dying Bride remain. Beguiling and engaging despite the sometimes funereal pace and weird vocal mix, the near-two hour set time passed all too quickly.

Those vocals were barely a disappointment as Sydney wallowed in the glorious misery of My Dying Bride for the very first time. Let our hope not be destroyed that this will not be the last occasion our paths cross.

PIC: BRENDAN DELAVERE