Harlan

After the interlude of Life Among The Ruins, Defeis focuses all his energy on a trilogy between man and divinity, considered by many to be the creative peak of the band. The first part of The Marriage impresses mainly with its compact sound, evident in I Will Come For You, Blood Of The Saints, The Last Supper, but also for the elegance and search for melodies in House Of Dust, Self Crucifixion, and Forever Will I Roam. A Pursino more inspired than ever, and Defeis reaches with his voice emotional and vocal peaks that few will be able to match in the genre.

After a period marked by the failure of the record label following the release of Age Of Consent in '88, many considered Virgin Steele to be dead and buried. In '93, Defeis and Pursino returned with an album that diverged from their usual sound, focusing more on AOR, while astonishingly maintaining the sophistication and class that have always distinguished this band. Among the standout tracks are Sex Religion Machine, the energetic I Dress In Black (Woman With No Shadow), Too Hot To Handle, and Jet Black. It may be different from their other work, but not too much.

Jack Starr is kicked out of the band, and Defeis can finally express his passion for "barbaro-romantic" music. Personally, I still consider him somewhat immature, with a few songs that are too simplistic (Rock Me, I'm On Fire, Fight Tooth And Nail), but the rest of the album is simply magnificent. A great prelude to the albums that will follow, but above all to the masterpieces of the '90s.

Definitely more mature compared to the unripe debut, Defeis finds a vocal dimension that is much more suited to his style, and Jack Starr's hard rock outbursts become closer to the Epic genre. The result is touching pieces like "A Cry in The Night," the faster "Life Of Crime" and "Burn The Sun," and the grand Titletrack. 3.5 rounded up to 4 solely for that wonder of a song called "The Redeemer."

It’s hard for me to consider this work as an album by Virgin Steele. Too many tracks dragged out excessively, some disjointed (Devilhead, Glamour, Fallen Angels), others where the now-faded voice of Defeis is irritatingly not utilized to its best (Delirium, We Disappear), with only a few songs worth saving (Black Sun-Black Mass, Persephone), all surrounded by a disgraceful production and endless shrieks and meows. I can agree that the band doesn’t want to release an album that’s the same as the last one, but if Defeis had continued down the path taken with the underrated The Black Light Bacchanalia, we would now be talking about another masterpiece. But unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Virgin Steele show no signs of waning inspiration, and a year and a half after the release of the first chapter, they release the second part of The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell. Some of the tight rhythms that characterized the first part are lost, only to be replaced by a musical theatricality and a sound that is, at many points, pompous and almost flashy. The album will be cited by many as an inspiration for the Symphonic Metal genre. Pursino manages to create wonderful guitar passages, as in Crown Of Glory, Emalaith, Victory Is Mine, supported by a David Defeis in full maturity both in composition and vocals, managing to create surreal atmospheres in pieces like Prometheus, Twilight Of The Gods, or the tightly wound Devil/Angel and Symphony Of Steele. A masterpiece.

What was supposed to represent the album of consecration for Virgin Steele becomes the point that could have led them to dissolution. The record label under which Age Of Consent was released went bankrupt shortly after its release, the tour was canceled, and for almost 5 years the VS monicker seemed to have vanished. However, this does not detract from the greatness of the pieces and the compositional artistic maturity reached by Defeis and Pursino, of which The Burning Of Rome (Cry For Pompeii) is the best example. Also worth mentioning is the power of songs like Let It Roar and the fantastic Lion In Winter, or the dramatic Tragedy and Cry Forever. A must-have for fans of the Epic genre, and essential for understanding the path of Virgin Steele as a turning point.

After a full 6 years since the last album, Defeis comes out with what is probably the most divisive record among Virgin Steele fans. A concept that traverses both heavy metal territories and the edge of the theatrical, featuring a masterful vocal interpretation of the characters. Slightly wordy, the album fails to win over many enthusiasts due to its stark differences from the works of the '90s, largely due to a production that was inadequate at the time. In the 2017 remixed version, however, this album finds its natural consecration with a production that lives up to the expectations. Perhaps the last great masterpiece of Virgin Steele.