Legendary English doom metal band MY DYING BRIDE has enlisted SWALLOW THE SUN vocalist Mikko Kotamäki as their frontman for live performances in 2025. As of now, only one show featuring Kotamäki has been confirmed: July 3 at the Rockmaraton festival in Hungary.
Band said in a statement: “MY DYING BRIDE are thrilled to announce their return to the stage in 2025!
“After a small ‘hiatus’, live shows are set to recommence, featuring a very special guest on vocals: Mikko Kotamäki from SWALLOW THE SUN.
“We warmly welcome Mikko, who has graciously joined the MDB live setup, enabling us to bring both new and classic songs back to the stage.
“With this year’s monumental album ‘A Mortal Binding’ now well into establishing itself as a Doom Metal success, the band are at last ready to promote it live along with seasoned classics of course.
“The band is excited to announce one show already with more to come.
In a recent interview with the U.K.’s Devolution magazine, MY DYING BRIDE singer Aaron Stainthorpe addressed the recent announcement that he and his bandmates were canceling all of their previously scheduled 2024 tour dates.”Stay tuned for further announcements — and let’s also give a big welcome to Mikko!”
“We’ve worked relentlessly in MY DYING BRIDE — without a manager. Me and [guitarist] Andrew [Craighan] managed the band as best we could over the years. We’ve had people interested in managing, but it’s never really [panned out]. And sometimes when you’re doing the admin, it really takes away from the artistic side of things. You’ve got tax men to deal with and politics and blah, blah, blah. And me and Andy, we’ve argued the toss like a married couple for years and years and years — artwork, lyrics.
“I normally pretty much get away with lyrics, but artwork particularly. And I think we’re both becoming grumpy old men. We’ve just got a bit loggerheaded like that. We said, ‘Let’s take a break before we have a massive bust-up.’ Even though it’s a rubbish time to take a break because the album is just coming out. But everyone just thought, ‘You two just take your breather. Take some time away. It happens to loads of bands. And then come back.’”
“It’s a bad time to take [a break],” Aaron continued. “We’d had gigs booked and everything. And I apologize profusely to people who bought tickets and were coming to see us. But we just needed a break before we blew our heads off. So we’re taking a breather.”
Aaron clarified that his involvement with his side project, HIGH PARASITE, had no connection to MY DYING BRIDE‘s decision to take a break.
He said: “I know some people are going to say, ‘Oh, is it because of HIGH PARASITE?’ Well, HIGH PARASITE has been going for three years. So how can it be HIGH PARASITE? It’s not HIGH PARASITE. MY DYING BRIDE have huge gaps in the things that we do — three years between albums, 12 shows a year. I can fit three or four more bands in those spaces, no problem whatsoever. So HIGH PARASITE‘s got nothing to do with it whatsoever.
“We’re just taking a breather because if we don’t, MDB will be over. When we come back — we don’t know yet. We will be coming back. I just don’t know when. But weirdly, the timing is almost perfect for me because HIGH PARASITE, it’s like one door closes, another one opens. And it’s just, like, this is amazing. I’ve got more breathing room than I expected I would have.”
MY DYING BRIDE‘s latest studio album, A Mortal Binding, was released on 19 April 2024 through Nuclear Blast.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.