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The Angel and the Dark River shows My Dying Bride greater expanding their morose doom sound and crafting a unique performance in their discography. There is a strong use of violins in particular to be found here that gives the songs an almost dark romantic sound. Moments that are in a way seductive are created by the emotive sound of the band. They really hit the melancholic mood right on the button throughout the majority of this release.

A lot of people think the opener "The Cry of Mankind" is among the band's best, but I believe there are better tracks to be found here. The sorrowful "From Darkest Skies" is more enthralling than the opening track. There are several great changes of mood throughout the rest of the material leading up to the excellent closer "Your Shameful Heaven". The band puts forth a lot of emotion into the songs and at times they will move you. However, my biggest problem with the disc is that the band drone into uninteresting musical territories on a few occasions. This could be attributed to the style of music they're playing, which is somewhat experimental and leads to a lot of high and lows. The music is certainly serene and mournful when the band is firing on all cylinders and it leads to some of the most memorable moments you'll hear from them.

This album shows a great deal of progression over the previous work Turn Loose the Swans, which was great in its own right, but perhaps featured more death metal traits than are found here. On The Angel and the Dark River, My Dying Bride manages to get the solemn mood they're looking for fully fleshed out. It's a distinctive work that has a one of a kind musical style.