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.


What happened?   May 5, 2004
 6 out of 15 found this review helpful

Before this review is started, let it be known that I LOVE Virgin Black's first album Sombre Romantic. I love it to death. So, obviously I was expecting the same greatness from their follow-up.

First thing I noticed, before even popping the disc in the CD player, is that the songwriting is not nearly up to par with Sombre Romantic's. While Virgin Black is NOT a Christian band, as some have said they are (they're pretty darn anti-Christian if their lyrics say anything about them), at least their first album had some meaning instead of the cliche "God, you've made my life a living hell" that this one says for all intensive purposes. But that's a minor issue. Now onto the music. They surely have abandoned most of their metal influences, instead becoming quite content to produce something that the 'goth' crowd would surely get a kick out of. I admire the classical influences, but in reality, the only one doing anything for this band is Rowan London. Unfortunately, he's the showcase of the album. Why do I say unfortunately? Because a great deal of the time, he's the ONLY member playing anything. I will certainly not contest that he's got hands made for the piano and a throat carved for singing, but the whole purpose of having a *band* is to have every member contribute something. Their drummer is still way out of time with the rest of the band, too. He's good, but should practice keeping time a little more.

Rowan's vocals seem to be turned down a notch from Sombre Romantic. In some of the songs, he sounds like Osten Bergoy (Morendoes/Tristania), which isn't a bad thing, but I certainly like to hear his operatic vocals take center stage. As for the music itself, it could be compared to Burzum's Hliskjalf in terms of the atmosphere created (although this has vocals and guitars, so that takes some away from its ethereal essence), so it's a pretty dark and haunting piece, although I think I'd play this one before Sombre Romantic as bedtime music. The orchestration and instrumentation is very good, but more simplistic. I'd say they probably could've gotten away with just one guitarist on this album, because the guitar isn't used all too often as a lead instrument. The leads are definitely there, but as the average song length is about eight or nine minutes ("The Everlasting" is a drawn-out 17 minutes), they show up relatively sparingly throughout the duration of the album. This is offset by the fact that the piano/keyboard work is phenomenal. The songs do get a little long for a gothic band, in the vein of The Sins of Thy Beloved, albeit with far better structure and euphonics.

What will the future hold for Virgin Black? Well, if they decide to pop out another album, I'm sure I'll get hold of a copy, but it certainly won't be on the top ten segment of my wish list. All things considered, this was worth the money I paid for it, but just seems to lack the passion and inspiration of Sombre Romantic. Worth your money if you liked the first album, but just don't expect a repeat.


Dark solemn beauty   March 3, 2005
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

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.


A New Favorite   April 30, 2006
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I did not think I would like this type of "Operatic" metal. An old girlfriend turned me on to this, and I thank her for this and many other wonderful things. Sorry, did'nt mean to go off topic. Elegant........ and Dying has to be one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard. The song structure and melodies are top-notch. Rowan London's vocals are sublime and scary at the same time. The guitar playing is like a woman crying, ethereal. 75 minutes of haunting, tragic sadness. But,strangely uplifting. The only qualm is the drumming, seems to miss certain beats. A perfect album for those dark, gray,rainy, snowy nights. The music will reach in and take hold of your soul. So, here is a good evening; buy this,sit in front of a warm fire, burn one end to end and sip your favorite whiskey. Then just let go.........


A brilliantly dark and beautiful album.   October 18, 2006
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

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.