Virgin Black

"Sombre Romantic"
(The End Records) 

Virgin Black could well be the band that catapults The End Records into listener consciousness. Always known for producing highly acclaimed but usually "sleeper" acts spanning the realms of avant-garde Black Metal music that's usually a little too advanced for either mainstream consumption or genre defined tradition, Virgin Black creates and stretches their own boundaries with a groundbreaking and breathtaking new release that should serve their label well. For the patient listener, "Sombre Romantic" becomes many things, not the least of which is a full embodiment of classical music history throughout the ages. For those of a quick-triggered mentality, a simple scanning will reveal several unique and likely palatable styles from among the ten choices. Hailing from Australia, Virgin Black travels far and wide past any previous points with this waking dream excursion and indeed defies classification from moment to moment. With symphonic magnificence and technical proficiency, song strength is emphasized over virtuosic tendencies, which can often be overstated in a still formative genre such as theirs. Subtle and smooth passages recall grandiose operatic displays often broken into story like sequences-"Museum Of Iscariot," a great example at midpoint, divided between "Stagnation," "Death," and "Procession," all emotional wanderings unique unto themselves but very necessary to the final outcome. Infrequent though forceful measures of dark intensity make for dynamic interludes where sorrow turns to anger, dread to damnation and distress to triumph. The songs, all amalgamated and performed well in a manner beyond simple complimentary Gothic/Operatic comprehension, house within themselves the likes of Baroque, Brahms and Black in a dazzling display of power, fluidity and enlightenment.

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