A very interesting band, I only have Requiem: Mezzo Forte, but I adore the way operatic chant, distorted guitar, growl, symphonic music and all blends. One of the few Australian bands that I know of, though XD

Ohh the Virgin Black set last night was even better than I thought it would be!:D They are so heavy, so gloomy, and the sound was just perfect! One of the smart bands that realizes that it is NOT volume but clarity and proper levels of the instruments that make for an amazing sound for the audience.

I absolutely love the guitar riff that is repeated numberous times in the song "Silent," and it was even more mesmerizing live.

Rowan put on the performance that a few of you have raved about... intense, foreboding, and raw. And unlike Samael (the band immediately following Virgin Black), Virgin Black didn't use lights to emphasize emotions in their set. I don't know if this was by choice or it just being cheaper to play without someone running the lightboard, but it had the effect of their set feeling more intimate. Well, intimate in a cold, melancholic, ghostly way.

Samantha has her own style of playing, at least in comparison to the band. Honestly, outside of the 3 seconds she stood there before starting, I never once saw her face. It was interesting to see the thought process she must have while playing, as she continued to headbang slowly about 2-4 times faster than the actual beats of all the slower parts of the songs. It's like she's perpetually ready for the songs to reach the quicker, uptempo parts. And to be honest, those are usually the songs I like best: the ones that go from very slow to very fast, because of the anticipation factor

Written by Jason W. on 04.10.2008 at 04:44

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Ohhh man, I'm so jelous, I really like Virgin Black... Unfortunately I only have two albums [Mezzo Forte and Sombre Romantic.. both awesome albums btw.]
And I wish I could see them live sometime.

I really love Samantha, she is not THAT good-looking, but there's something about her that I really like... I don't know, maybe because she seems so peaceful.

I was with The Oracle hanging out with them backstage 2 nights ago at the Opera House in Toronto, very cool people. Samantha took some pictures of us, and some firemen that came down cuz of a smoke machine malfunction setting off an alarm in the basement! Hahaha.


I cant wait for Pianissimo to come out early next year... Rowan told me he already has new material in mind!

Written by Jason W. on 04.10.2008 at 04:44

Ohh the Virgin Black set last night was even better than I thought it would be!:D They are so heavy, so gloomy, and the sound was just perfect! One of the smart bands that realizes that it is NOT volume but clarity and proper levels of the instruments that make for an amazing sound for the audience.

I absolutely love the guitar riff that is repeated numberous times in the song "Silent," and it was even more mesmerizing live.

Rowan put on the performance that a few of you have raved about... intense, foreboding, and raw. And unlike Samael (the band immediately following Virgin Black), Virgin Black didn't use lights to emphasize emotions in their set. I don't know if this was by choice or it just being cheaper to play without someone running the lightboard, but it had the effect of their set feeling more intimate. Well, intimate in a cold, melancholic, ghostly way.

Samantha has her own style of playing, at least in comparison to the band. Honestly, outside of the 3 seconds she stood there before starting, I never once saw her face. It was interesting to see the thought process she must have while playing, as she continued to headbang slowly about 2-4 times faster than the actual beats of all the slower parts of the songs. It's like she's perpetually ready for the songs to reach the quicker, uptempo parts. And to be honest, those are usually the songs I like best: the ones that go from very slow to very fast, because of the anticipation factor

I agree that their live sound is spot-on, perfectly balanced. How long did they play when you saw them? How big was the crowd?

Written by Stigmatized on 24.10.2008 at 17:42

I agree that their live sound is spot-on, perfectly balanced. How long did they play when you saw them? How big was the crowd?

They played for about 30-35 minutes. The crowd was small at first, then was average by the end of their set as people were arriving for the later bands of course. They played in a clubroom, which must have a max of 300 for capacity - so there was really no bad place in the room to be! How was Samantha's presence at your gig? Did she remain hidden behind headbanging hair for the entire set as well?

I have to say, I think the (mostly) Amorphis fans that were at this Mass. gig were surprised by Virgin Black's doom-laden sound, and how massive it is live. In fact, I think there were only a dozen or two people who'd even heard of Virgin Black, let alone knew their music at the gig! (None of my friends knew about them at all, yet they were the band I came for haha).

Written by Jason W. on 25.10.2008 at 01:37

Written by Stigmatized on 24.10.2008 at 17:42

I agree that their live sound is spot-on, perfectly balanced. How long did they play when you saw them? How big was the crowd?

They played for about 30-35 minutes. The crowd was small at first, then was average by the end of their set as people were arriving for the later bands of course. They played in a clubroom, which must have a max of 300 for capacity - so there was really no bad place in the room to be! How was Samantha's presence at your gig? Did she remain hidden behind headbanging hair for the entire set as well?

I have to say, I think the (mostly) Amorphis fans that were at this Mass. gig were surprised by Virgin Black's doom-laden sound, and how massive it is live. In fact, I think there were only a dozen or two people who'd even heard of Virgin Black, let alone knew their music at the gig! (None of my friends knew about them at all, yet they were the band I came for haha).

Yeah, they played for maybe 25 minutes when I saw them. The place I saw them in probably had of maximum capacity of 150-200. I was surprised how small the place actually was. Of course for Virgin Black there were maybe 50 people tops as more people arrived for the later bands just as they did at the gig you went to.

As for Samantha, she did stay hidden behind her hair the entire time. However, I had the opportunity to talk with her before and after the show and she was extremely nice.