Sorrow Ever Awaits On Joy ...

It's taken me a while to warm up to Virgin Black's 3rd part to their "Requiem" trilogy. It's not that it's a bad album, it's simply because I loved "Mezzo Forte" so much that nothing short of pure perfection may have surpassed it.

Don't get me wrong here, I knew going into this album that it was going to be pure metal and Loud and that is certainly what you get. "Requiem - Fortissimo" starts off with the doomy/death metal opus "The Fragile Breath" which is slow almost to funeral doom tempos book ended by speedy blasts. Susan Johnson's haunting vocals are used sparingly as well as recurrent melodies of the Requiem Trilogy.

"In Winter's Ash" has a chilling orchestrations amongst the dark and doomy riffs. "Silent" (the first single) picks up the pace some before slowing into a moving, melodic doom riff. "God In Dust" blends the heavy doom/death structure with haunting melodies and "Lacrimosa (Gather Me)" soothes them and creates a moving and uplifting sound.

"Darkness" comes crushing in with Virgin Black's staple doom metal continuing with the recurring melodies and similar riffs to "Domine". This is probably my favourite track because it feels like a medley of "Mezzo Forte" just heavier.

Ironically "Requiem Fortissmo" ends with the quiet piano melody of "Requiem, Kyrie". I'm guessing this will be relatible to "Requiem - Pianissimo" which has yet to be released.

As far as doom/death metal albums go, Virgin Black's "Requiem - Fortissimo" is brilliant. It's heavy and dark and crushingly bleak, but all the while has the element of hopefulness that Virgin Black do beautifully.

My main complaint (which is not so much a complaint, but praise to Rowan London) is that Rowan doesn't get to use his beautifully tragic voice. He is THE best metal vocalist, in my opinion and honestly ... I missed it here.