Elegant...and Dying

Virgin Black (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 24, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: The End Records
• ASIN: B00009RXJO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,449 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Elegant...And Dying by Virgin Black

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saviour Machine without the hope, March 16, 2004

By 

Scott Sweet "Music Freak" (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Elegant...and Dying (Audio CD)

Virgin Black leads us to a bottomless chasm and asks us to leap with them. The metal guitar and drums come in only after the singing and gentler music have brought hope and God into question. "Elegant...and dying" is a perfect example of using metal as a vehicle for sadness more than rage.

Rowan London's singing and Samantha Escarbe's lyrics express suffering and sorely tested hope. The rock is strong in a Saviour Machine/Opeth/Primordial fashion, but the piano is the most menacing thing about this album. While the bombast and cinematic style are very similar to Saviour Machine's "Legend" trilogy, Virgin Black focuses on the pain of faith instead of any peace or joy found in it.

"The Everlasting" is worth the price of the disc all by itself. At 17:13, the song alternates among every singing style and intensity of music used in the prior tracks. The third verse in "Beloved" sums up the whole CD: "Can anyone taste my blood? / I have clung, quivering, with bruised flesh / Christendom rise and dress yourself / What delicious tears you've made me shed."

There's a LOT of beauty and complex arrangements throughout the CD, but its strongest impact on me is how it romanticizes anguish, how it acknowledges God but challenges all hope equated with His name. "Elegant...and dying" is worth any three CDs of thorny-lettered Satanic speed metal. Plus, these songs are all pretty freakin' long; you get quality AND quantity.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark solemn beauty, March 2, 2005

By 

J. C. Nisly "Dark Bohemian" (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elegant...and Dying (Audio CD)

My title sort of sums up my feelings about Virgin Black. Over the past 2 years they have become my favorite band, and I consider both full length CD's to be master pieces.

Like Sombre Romantic, Elegant ... and Dying is gothic-influenced doom metal, a mix of brooding piano, operatic baritone singing, usually slow but occassionally black inspired riffing, incredibly emotional lead guitar, with the occasional black shrieks thrown in for good measure. Rowan London's incredible baritone and Samantha Escarbe's meaningful leads deserve particular mention.

However, unlike many dark metal bands, these elements are not simply thrown together but are part of the emotional whole formed by each song along with the honest, painful lyrics. Elegant... and Dying takes this completeness a step further, as the entire album seems to be one complete work of separate parts, rather than 9 separate songs as with Sombre Romantic.

To the reviewer who called it a Rowan London solo album, besides the fact that Samantha handled most of the lyric writing this time around, there's plenty of distorted guitar, but its always the right amount for the song. Additionally, while there isn't a solo on each and every song, a lot of the rhythm parts are harmonized parts with two guitars. Finally, while Virgin Black IS far from being a Christian band, and are anti-established church style Christianity, they have never and don't plan on ever being anti-God. Elegant...and Dying portrays the painfulness of faith in God, but in the end, though our wings are burning, hope remains.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brilliantly dark and beautiful album., October 17, 2006

By 

Mr. Robert C. Wilson "Alex wilson" (London, uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elegant...and Dying (Audio CD)

If you know virgin black, all you need to know that it is generally better then their first full length, and is therefore deemed essential listening to any fan of doom metal, orchestral black metal, neoclassical, neofolk, etc...
If you dont know virgin black's sound, they make genuinly beautiful music. Whereas opeth, shape of despair etc.. make suffocating clostraphobic music, and agalloch make sparse cold music virgin black create an incredibly rich warm sound. It is, in their own words, "comfort in darkness" and no amount of reviewing could sum it up better then that. It is a dark album. a depressing album, but altogether a beautiful album. Comfortable, rather then desolate.
Piano, orchestras, timpanis, drums (with use of doube pedals) black metal inspired guitars, pianos, keyboards and classically trained vocals create a mixture of black metal, neoclassical, neofolk other genres.
on elagant and dying the band have a variaty of dynamics, from the double pedals in the 16 minute epic "the everlasting" to the timpani and brass driven beginning song.
The album can be heavy aswell, a stripped down black metal, which contrasts with the sparseness of the last song which i find the best on the album due to its desperate atmosphere.

this album however id not about individual tracks. It is a journey,an epic, a mood, an atmosphere, it is not sometihng to briefly listen to, it is something to get submerged in and is completely worth the time and money. I have been listening to metal sincei was 13 and this band are one of my favorites, and trust me when i say they are one of the most beautifel.

in short i would STRONGLY recommend this album to anyone who is into ;

green carnation
shape or despair
opeth
agalloch
neofolk
neoclassical
black metal

or anyone with some musical intelligence!
thankyou.