Virgin Black: Beauty at its finest!

Well, to like these guys, I guess you're going to have to first of all like opera music. If you like metal, classical and opera (heck, even ambience), this is all you can ever ask for. The vocalist has been vocally trained by the dude who has trained the opera singer "Pavoratti." o_O



This is a real COOL story, I had to post this up. From their site, an interview; VIOLENT SOLUTIONS (French Zine);



Then of course the vocals of Rowan London are a most idiosyncratic trait of Virgin Black. It has been announced that he was under the teaching of some prominent guy in the classical music scene. I guess you’ve been asked a hundred times about that, but could you please sum up the whole story once again?
Following the recording and release of Sombre Romantic I caught wind of an elite opera teacher in our city. Agim Hushi who had the same teacher as Pavarotti. I contacted him with a view to possibly gain something and embellish Virgin Black’s vocals. An audition was arranged and I attended with an expectation that I may well make a complete fool of myself, but it turned out quite the opposite. He loved my voice and accepted me immediately upon one condition, to give up my band and concentrate on training with him. He hadn’t heard of Virgin Black, and found anything along the lines of Rock/Pop detestable. My response was a strong and assertive “no”. As one could imagine, this intrigued him. I desperately didn’t want him to hear the music – being wary of his aversion to anything outside the classical genre…and after many cries of “you wont understand it”, I produced the Sombre Romantic CD. He loved it! He was completely over the top in his response, comparing us to Mozart and suggesting that we were exactly what the classical music scene needed; that response continues to amaze me and needless to say, I was accepted, band and all. Now I train with him with a view to eventually perform traditional operas as well as Virgin Black.
 
Silent Song said:
and you care about band's appearances? enough to not listen to them because of it? heh, that's pretty shallow if you ask me

A band's appearance can give a good idea of what they sound like. Look at Slipknot if you need any further proof of this. Chances are, if a band is trying for a certain image to appeal to a "gothic" crowd like that band seems to be doing, the music is going to suffer.

That said, I've heard a song before, and I don't recall it being anything special.
 
This is a Gothic/Black metal band -- and it does dress the part. Gothic and Black Metal are so absolutely obsessed with image that its not surprising... Add the singing which is something of a brooding operatic chant and I'm sure most people here won't enjoy it. It's a peculiar style, but it is done very well.
 
$profit$ said:
This is a Gothic/Black metal band -- and it does dress the part. Gothic and Black Metal are so absolutely obsessed with image that its not surprising... Add the singing which is something of a brooding operatic chant and I'm sure most people here won't enjoy it. It's a peculiar style, but it is done very well.

That band, Black metal? Wrong.
 
GoD said:
Wow, I didn't know the actors from Stargate played metal.

bahahahaha






Well, the chick's hot. Unless of course it's a man and I'm not looking close enough. That happened with James LaBrie as well. Scarred me for life. It's why I like Machine Head. :p
 
Nah, they're definitely black metal vocals. They're not completely of any one given genre, but I'd classify them most as being classic metal. There's alot of elegant music compositions which are totally striking in melody which are that comparable to classical music on par with like Bach or Mozart. You gotta listen to more songs, then you can judge. ;)


And honestly, when I looked at the band's image, they look NOTHING how they sound. In fact, I honestly couldn't care less about the look of a band. I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of artists's dressing up like this (Cradle of Filth's image I despise), but geez, I'm not going to let this judge what kind of music I'll be listening to. Fuck, listening to "Nymphetamine" by Cradle is truly mindblowing imo - songs like Nymphetamine, Swansong, english fire and Absinthe with Faust are incredibly great pieces of music.
Now, they're by far not my most favourite band, but damn I do like what they do.

Virgin Black is a lot more different than cradle, as they focus more on expressing feelings and mood with music, and it shows. Every note that is played, every second of a song feels meaningful - words cannot even describe what the music of this band means to me.


Such a shame that some others will poke fun of this band that has garnered numerous, well-deserved-raving reviews. Listening to the music, they should at least be respected for what they're doing. Totally unlike anything else out there, really.



Some of the music, is by far, some of the most serious & dark pieces of instrumentation I've ever heard - the vocals as well. It greatly helps when the sound and production values are so flawless.
 
I was arguing that the band itself isn't black metal, not that the vocals aren't black metal-esque.

That said, the story mentioned combined with curiosity piqued my curiosity into checking this out. I'm somewhat impressed, it's not near as bad as I thought it would be. It's pretty decent, actually, even though they should drop the shitty image.

You shouldn't mention great reviews as a way to show that the band has credibility: For the most part, the metal press can't be trusted, as they simply jump onto the band wagon and praise the living hell out of absolutely ANYTHING that's different or 'unique', completely forgetting the aspect of quality. This will encourage people NOT to check them out.

Oh, I also suggest that you don't ruin your credibility by discussing the greatness of Cradle of Filth if you want people to check out this band. ;)
 
lol man...though, I'm glad to hear you seemed to have liked what you heard.

about Cradle - like I said, it's not my most listened to band - that'd go to like something along the lines of Opeth, Katatonia, Orphaned Land or Ulver, etc. Have ya heard anything off "Cruelty and the Beast?" Man, I think people only hate cradle because of the image they portray or their hate of Dani, etc. The musicianship is quite good.


as well, I hear ya on the whole metal reviews thing - I have noticed this. You may be right...



PS: My THE END order has finally arrived. Time to check out Virgin Black in its entirety now - hell yeah!
 
Blade Golem said:
You shouldn't mention great reviews as a way to show that the band has credibility: For the most part, the metal press can't be trusted, as they simply jump onto the band wagon and praise the living hell out of absolutely ANYTHING that's different or 'unique', completely forgetting the aspect of quality. This will encourage people NOT to check them out.

I can only speak for myself on this one, but I agree that it's unnecessary - even detrimental - to mention reviews of albums. Too often, I disagree with critics that I like, let alone critics that I don't like. As far as the bandwagon thing is concerned, us reviewers - again, I can only speak for myself - come across so much mundanity that hearing something "different" or "unique" is really refreshing. I mean, honestly, how many uninteresting metalcore, Swedish death, and grindcore bands can our society churn out?! :tickled: But, yeah, it's usually a turn off when reviews are mentioned.
 
circus_brimstone said:
I can only speak for myself on this one, but I agree that it's unnecessary - even detrimental - to mention reviews of albums. Too often, I disagree with critics that I like, let alone critics that I don't like. As far as the bandwagon thing is concerned, us reviewers - again, I can only speak for myself - come across so much mundanity that hearing something "different" or "unique" is really refreshing. I mean, honestly, how many uninteresting metalcore, Swedish death, and grindcore bands can our society churn out?! :tickled: But, yeah, it's usually a turn off when reviews are mentioned.

I've done some album reviews myself, and I can see where you're coming from with the idea of being happy when a band does something that's different than the usual generic shit that most of the metal media praises, however, should people really give high scores to an album based on it's "uniqueness" alone if the music is still shit, for example? I'd say no.
 
I've heard they're a lot like Saviour Machine, which I love, but then I listened to a few clips and they just sound like boring goth-metal to me. I mean, at least Clayton integrates rock, symphony, Eastern, and all kinds of variety into Saviour Machine, but Virgin Black seems kinda redundant and bland. I haven't heard a full album though, so who knows.
 
This is my favorite Virgin Black song:

A Poet's Tears of Porcelain

As tears again bedew my cheek
To your knees I cling
Oh merciful one
Show me your glory
Was I not bruised?
Have you not healed?
They dance to silence
But your song I hear
Holy lord, fathomless god
tears flow
But the water is sweet
Holy lord, fathomless god
I fall as one dead
With quivering lips
Blessed be, priest and friend
All Heavens bow
In admiration
Fathomless depth
Measureless height
Great is your holiness
 
Alcapoth said:
There's alot of elegant music compositions which are totally striking in melody which are that comparable to classical music on par with like Bach or Mozart.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA

Jesus Christ (speaking of whom, it appears Virgin Black are Christian too, LOL), everything you've said about this band reeks of pseudo-intellectual fanboyism, but this just takes the cake. Oh man.