Burning Brides were formed in 1996, by guitarist/singer/songwriter Dimitri Coats and bassist Melanie Campbell when the 2 met in college and then went traveling the U.S. looking for the ideal place to start a band. After leaving New York City, stints in Boston and Portland followed, before they eventually stopped in Philadelphia in 1999. Fast forward to late 2000, with drummer Jason Kourkounis also now in tow, the band was official and began recording its' hook laden debut album Fall of the Plastic Empire. The album, which was originally released in 2001 on the tiny File 13 label, was a joyriding beast of a record. The buzz on the album and their legendary live show led to a label bidding war, which saw V2 victorious. Cut to 2002. The band went back into the studio to re-cut Fall of the Plastic Empire with Howie Weinberg and re-released the record on September 24. The years between 1999 and 2002, saw the band embark on countless high profile tours sharing stages with Audioslave, Queens of the Stone Age, The White Stripes, Marilyn Manson, and tons more, finally culminating with 2003's Lollapalooza festival, which saw the power trio garner yet more raves for their trancendent live shows.

Now 2004 brings us the new album Leave No Ashes. The record not only manages to fulfill all the promise of …Empire, it one-ups damn near every other record released so far this year-scratch that-this decade! Leave No Ashes, produced by the Brides with legendary producer George Drakoulious (Black Crowes, Tom Petty) streamlines and finely hones every element that made its' predecessor so great and then kicks it all up several dozen notches. Imagine equal parts garage rock swagger, sleaze metal hook, britpop melody and alternative rock crunch thrown together in pile-up on the turnpike and you'll start to get the idea here. Leave No Ashes is a dark, majestic masterpiece the likes of which we don't often see these days. The album is great from end to end. While the band’s influences are worn

on its' sleeves, this music is never derivitive, always fresh. Take the opener "Heart Full of Black." The song tears out of the gate like the hellraising bastard spawn of Cheap Trick's drug-fuelled one night fuck-fest with ZZ Top, but far easier to look at. “Pleasure In The Pain" could be Ray Davies on his darkest day. The closing track, "Vampire Waltz" comes across like crazy horse in the apocalyptic aftermath of an epic bender, with Coats singing as though he's the one out for blood. Every song here is a stone fucking monster. These are tunes that stick in your head long after the record is done-beautiful and dark, powerful and compelling........perfect! Here comes the brides, come on let's go for a ride.

http://www.burningbrides.com