Aaron Stainthorpe, sacked in 2025 as My Dying Bride's frontman after 35 years, has launched a new band, Towards The Sinister, with three of his former bandmates. The group reunites him with guitarist Calvin Robertshaw, bassist Ade Jackson and drummer Rick Miah, and aims to recapture the sound of My Dying Bride's first four doom metal albums, which they helped write. The move follows what Stainthorpe describes as a painful and unexpected dismissal driven by long-standing tension with co-founder Andrew Craighan, who has since brought in Swallow The Sun's Mikko Kotamäki as the new singer.

Towards The Sinister is rounded out by second guitarist Chris Revett, keyboardist Mark Deeks and violinist Emma Allington. Stainthorpe told Blabbermouth the project grew organically from a pub reunion with his old bandmates in October last year, sparked by supportive messages he received after his firing was announced, with online speculation about a reunion eventually pushing the group to formalise plans. The band intends to play small warm-up shows in England before moving on to European festival dates next summer, with new material also in the works.