Sombre Romantic

Virgin Black | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 12, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: The End Records
• ASIN: B00005YP9I
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,921 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Opera de Romanci: I. Stare

2. Opera de Romanci: II. Embrace

3. Walk Without Limbs

4. Of Your Beauty

5. Drink the Midnight Hymn

6. Museum of Iscariot: I. Stagnation / II. Death / III. Procession

7. Lamenting Kiss

8. Weep for Me

9. I Sleep With the Emperor

10. A Poets' Tears of Porcelain

Editorial Reviews

Debut album by the Australian epic Gothic rock band from Adelaide. 10 tracks. 2001 Massacre release. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never gets boring, April 2, 2004

By 

mysanthropyk_overlord (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sombre Romantic (Audio CD)

It's not often that you find a band that's willing to experiment with several different music styles on the same album. Virgin Black's Sombre Romantic features songs in black metal style ("Drink the Midnight Hymn"), darkwave ("Lamenting Kiss"), gothic ("Museum of Iscariot"), opera/symphonic (opening two songs), and some other goodies thrown in. Rowan's operatic vocals are fantastic; it's nice to find a band with a trained male vocalist instead of the screamy 80's metal voice or overused black/death screaming & growling, the latter of which is becoming used in all the wrong places by some bands. There is very little black metal screaming on this album, and when it does appear, it is used effectively. The songs, composed by Rowan and guitarist Samantha Escarbe, are constantly changing and never get boring. The lyrics show some religious themes, but do not try to force anything down people's throats. It is a lyrically superb product overall. The compositions are very solid, and although no two songs sound alike, there is little disparity in quality of musicianship. Highly recommended to fans of anything from Tristania to Burzum.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dark Ages with amps, December 3, 2006

By 

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

This review is from: Sombre Romantic (Audio CD)

Virgin Black is the darkest band I've found whose music and lyrics address spiritual crisis without mocking it. While a lot of metal sounds like the heat of killing, this band sounds like an hour later, when we stop and look at the dead all around us. If you've heard Saviour Machine, Virgin Black moves slower and heavier in that direction.

"Opera de Romanci" opens with a cello and Gregorian chant promising darkness to come. "Embrace" makes good on it with a dose of slow metal and orchestration worthy of a film score. Virgin Black strikes a great balance, alternating between "funeral metal" and orchestration. "Walk Without Limbs" starts with a cool beat, like Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business". Then it changes gears into an industrial-rock sound unusual for this band.

"Of Your Beauty" finally puts Rowan London's operatic voice in front. His voice and the exceptional lyrics pull the listener into a place where it's always 4 a.m., and Winter never quite yields to Spring. "Drink The Midnight Hymn" jumps out of the speakers with a dose of speed metal and shrieking akin to Mayhem. On this CD and the following "Elegant...and Dying", the songs change speeds and modes often. Samantha Escarbe plays guitar with restraint, valuing the songs over solos.

"Museum of Iscariot" is a three-part suite with a lot of variety, and less intensity than some of the tracks before and after. "Lamenting Kiss" has a semi-industrial beat and an opening chant that sounds like a train siren losing strength with distance. Then London's voice takes the lead again. "A Poet's Tears of Porcelain" is a powerful finale - Escarbe finally busts out some fierce guitar melodies. The metal cuts off abruptly, leaving a brief chanted melody to end the whole thing. The image I get from this album is of someone lying down on a stone altar in the dark, eyes open, and waiting.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars something different, something original, something unheard, April 30, 2005

By 

deus ex mecca (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sombre Romantic (Audio CD)

Sombre Romantic makes a daring and death-defying leap onto the gothic/metal scene. There are elements of gothic metal that gothic metal has never seen before. The album is extremely melancholic and depressing. The music is mostly down-tempo, lots of melodies and orchestrating going on. The beauty in the album is the combination of operatic vocals with metallic growls. The whole album can be reminiscent of listening to a combination of Pink Floyd, Theatre of Tragedy, and Porcupine Tree. It sends you away to that part of your mind you never experimented with or ever used. This is not background music to be played while you are walking around. This is some serious music to be carefully listened to while you sit and comprehend the beauty and originality of it. The cruel and unusual behaviour of humanity is what Virgin Black sought to accomplish in their music, they have succeeded and then some. This album is amazing, it is a 44 minutes and 38 seconds of Victorian style operatic performances. All the mourning and tears are brought alive by this band.