THE BEAST

Welcome back metalheads to another episode of the great metal debate podcast. Today, I will be reviewing a new album from the one man dungeon synth project called Midnight Betrothed with his new album Death ... My Faithful Bride. This just might be the first album we have ever reviewed on this channel that most other metalheads probably wouldn't even consider to be metal. There is some guitar work but no heavy riffs or solos. There are some drums but blast beats are completely absent. It is mostly piano but with black metal vocals. The black metal style vocals just might be the most metal thing about this music. That could be the best explanation as to why this doesn't appear on metal-archives. But damn it, if it isn't some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. I strongly feel the need to shine a spotlight on this music project because it has that impact on one's black soul. I was first introduced to this music a few months back when the weather outside was just starting to get cold for the winter. Perfect timing if you ask me. Hearing this now in the spring still has a way of making me feel cold upon listening. To me, this is every bit as good as that demo I checked out titled Bewitched By Destiny's Gaze. A musical release like this definitely raises way more questions than answers. The first obvious question, is it metal? In order to properly answer that question we should probably break it down. Imagine you are listening to a less famous symphony composed by either Beethoven or Bach. Now imagine that someone decided to layer their recorded black metal vocals over top of it. Would you consider that to be metal based on just vocals alone? What if you added in a modern drumbeat that is less than 50 BPM? What if you periodically had a couple of guitar riffs hidden in the mix? Now that we have asked all the questions, it is time to finally give an answer. If you were to ask me if Midnight Betrothed would qualify as a metal sub-genre, I would have to answer with another question. Is dungeon synth related to symphonic black metal? To answer my own question, I would say that it strongly depends on the presence of metal elements. Does Midnight Betrothed have enough black metal to fit in? I would say that it definitely passes the metal test by the skin of its teeth. It passes but I mean it barely passes. It's almost like receiving a D- on an exam. Anything above an F is considered a passing grade. But because this is such a controversial take, Gomthog Metallicus thinks that it is a worthy topic for a future metal debate. Make sure you leave a comment down below, like and share this video if you want us to do that. Due to the fact that many people would not agree that this music is considered metal, the most that I can do for this album is maybe give it an honorable mention during our annual end of the year list. I have decided that I am not going to list the six songs on this album and I'm also not going to give it a rating. However, I will say that this album and all other previous releases are definitely worth checking out. Personally I think that everything this guy has ever done is fantastic. In fact, I would go as far as to say that he is a total genius for creating this type of music. I might even purchase a t-shirt from his bandcamp page and if he ever gets cassette tapes for his demos, I will be the first to buy them.