Virgin Black - Requiem mezzo forte (2007)

Formed in 1993, in Adelaide, Australia, I was first introduced to Virgin Black in the late-90s, when I stumbled upon a Christian metal show on a local radio station - a show which played its last track only a few weeks later.  That song was "Mother of Cripples", an early doom/death number - and quite possibly their demo. For a band played on a Christian Metal show, VB do not come across as typical of that genre.

The name, which sounds almost bordering on black metal, is said to represent "the juxtaposition of purity and humanity's darkness"*

In 2006, they undertook a project to release a trinity of albums, all named for their sound using the classical terms. I (thanks to my beloved brother) own two of them. I do not own the third one, the most beautiful and classical sounding of the three ("Pianissimo"), because the band took an "extended break" and have still not released it.

"Mezzo Forte" means "moderately loud". This album features the band performing with the Adelaide Symphonic Orchestra.

The cover features a portrait on parchment, one of those old style sepia artworks. The head is aflame, the vivide orange dancing across in stunning contrast to the shades of brown and tan. It is a booklet, and inside the lyrics read as typical goth-doom - poetic, majestic, dark and sorrow-filled.

"Requiem, Kyrie" begins with low, haunting melodies, deep and visceral, the sort that sends a chill down your spine. Chanting, spectral and eerie. Slowly the other instruments creep in, an orcheastra laden with gloom and tragedy. Rising over them, flitting like a gentle breeze bringing with it maudlin hope, the vocals rise and swoop and soar. Heavy with melancholy, desolation and loss, this truly is a requiem.

Heavier, but slow, dirge like, "In Death" has male vocals - merging the low, deep and haunted with the guttural snarls and grunts, punctuated by the rise and fall of the orchestra, the tension of drums and a spectral female choir. A gloriously dark, haunting and spooky symphony.

Harmonious, dark shadows of twilight stretching out across the fields as "Midnight's Hymn" comes upon us. The piano touch of frost. The churning of a double bass, and from the shadows a spectral voice rises, a strange and msyetious figure, as though created by moonlight. A man joins her, his voice low, echoeing, powerful.

"...And I am suffering...." is slow and laden with grief, loss and a hint of longing. The harmony between orchestral instruments and the soaring operatic vocals is truly a majestic combination, an aural delight. There is nothing more sublime, more beautiful than classical and metal joined in glorious harmony. So laden with emotion, power, drama. To anyone who claims that heavy metal is "just noise" - I would challenge them to listen to this album - it is impossible to do so without being moved:

"...when will my sorrow begin to pale?"

The bittersweet harmony of strings opens "Domine", in which the guitars and drums come crashing down, slow and strong. This is a much heavier number, the vocals slipping from guttural growls to higher, tenor-esque despair. There is an edge of menace.

Heart-aching, heart breaking, we step into the dirge that is "Lacrimosa (I am blind with weeping)". Lacrimosa is a beautiful word, would make a lovely Goth name. The harmonies of voice and string replicate the grief that falls upon one's heart, making it leaden with misery. Choirs rise in an anthem to despair.

Finally, it is time to "Rest Eternal" with a song reminscient of the earlier one - slow, heart-wrenching, lade with bittersweet melancholia. Atmospheric, emotive. Haunting.

Beautiful.

This is an album laden with layers and beauty. Unrepentingly sorrow-filled, but never gloomy or depressing, just a symphony of sadness, a requiem. The combination of orchestra and choral vocals, interspersed with the occasional more traditional heavy metal instruments and death metal vocals all combine to create an anthemic, sublime and magnificantly dark and haunting album.

I shall rate it 9/10.

I wish I could get my mitts on ""Pianissimo"... Why not release it already!

* From the source of all knowlege - wikipedia

Alpine Fault - Iraena's Ashes (2011)

This is my newest CD*. So new, in fact, that I received it three days ago and only listened to it today for the first time - I was saving it until I worked my way through the alphabet for the first time.

You've probably not heard of Alpine Fault - unless you have a facebook page and similar interests to me, and clicked on the promotion link when it appeared in your adds feed. That's what I did - and I would like to report - that sometimes those adds are very useful!

Alpine Fault were formed in New Zealand, like the right-lateral, strike-slip fault that runs the length of both our islands. They now make their home in Brisbane. With any luck, they might be performing when I head that way later this year (*fingers crossed, pretty please*). They combine classical music and metal, with operatic female vocals, melodic male vocals, and the occasional snarl or scream. For a band that have only been around for seven years, their sound is very polished, very complex and very, very good. They have recently replaced their vocalist, so it shall be interesting to see how she differs from the singer on this album, Nadia Vanek.

"Iraena's Ashes" is something of a concept album, based on an incident that happened in Auckland, in 2004. A young schoolteacher/model named Iraena Asher called the police expressing fears for her safety. Instead of sending a police car, a taxi was sent instead. To the wrong address. Iraena was then found wandering by a couple, who took her into their home for several hours. At sometime after midnight, she left and was last seen, semi clad, walking towards the beach. When approached by others, she ran away. She was never seen again. It is suspected she drowned, although her body was not found. She suffered from bipolar disorder. This album is a tribute to her and follows the themes of loss and separation, love and death. It is a beautiful, moody album.

The cover is hauntingly melancholic in shades of blue and grey - a woman stands alone, looking down and into the ocean. She is off-cetred, to the left, further enhancing the atmosphere of sorrow and loss. It is beautifully rendered, flawlessly professional. The interior holds more of the spectral sea, rocks merging from its treacherous depths. Further through, and the band stand in the whispy fog, their small figures looking lost and alone against the vastness of their environment. Their poses look almost amusingly forced, their expressions alternate between moody and bored.

The opening track, "Into the Night" is infused with heavy guitars, intermingled with violins and with Nadia's sweet voice like a melancholic wail. Male vocalist, Anthony Royle, joins her on the chrous, his voice performing the "Beauty and the Beast" counterpoint. This is the song about walking into the sea, and the tumultuous nature of the music corresponds with the heaving, confused emotions of the lyrics. It fades on a heart-rendering, wailed, note of despair.

"Above the Storm" brings in the violin and gentler guitar, before falling into a steady, haunted rhythm.The tune is tinged with desperation and despair. The violin adds a fragile thread of loneliness.

Strumming and violin again lead us into the mesmorising "I'll See You Soon"

A heavier song, tempered with mourning violins, is "Mourning has Broken (sleep)" here the vocals are exclusively male and the mood flavoured with anger.

"Requiem" is bewitching. With its spectral murmurings of the ocean, over the gentle intro music; forlorn vocals and haunting lyrics.

A largely instrumental piece, "The Watcher Beneath" allows the violinist full scope, creating a mood of misty haze, hanging in sullen clouds over the dark and treacherous depths of the ocean. Beneath lurks the unknown.

Insanity and aggression seems to be the theme of "Severance" with the music becoming a frenzied, untamed beast.

"March of the Tides" is a beautiful violin instrumental. I do not think I have seem a symphonic band in which the violin is as integral as in Alpine Fault. It adds a special, haunting, mesmorizing tone and an element of mournful longing.

"Under a Dying Sky" is as haunting and forlorn as you might expect from the title.

I've only listened to this album maybe two or three times now, and I can already say - with assurance, that I am a big fan of Alpine Fault and that I am very, very keen to see them live. They are performing in Auckland later this year - as part of AetherCon 2012 (although I would not consider them particularly steampunk, but who cares?) but not sure if my budget extends to taking another overnighter up to the humid city for another concert this year. Still, as they now hail from Brisbane and we will be headed that way later this year, maybe I'll luck it. Anyhow, with sounds like this - they're going to go far and should be around for some time yet.

Let's give them a 10/10.

You can buy Iraena's Ashes from here: Alpine Fault's website

* Note for my sole reader: My second-newest I shall be reviewing when I reach "D"