Virgin Steele
Guardians Of The Flame

THE REVIEW

Originating from the metal underground of New York, Virgin Steele has stood out from the beginning of their career for the effectiveness with which guitar melodies were skillfully mixed with orchestrations. The latter element can be found more massively in the band's later albums, but already peeks through from the self-titled debut album and makes a minor return in the second studio work of the four members: Guardians of the Flame.

Overlooking a cover that once again seems useless or almost irrelevant to what the album contains, listening to the first notes of the platter, it is noticeable that the band's range of action compared to the debut has not changed much. In fact, the group led by leader and singer David Defeis, demonstrates from the very first beats of the record its propensity for hard rock. "Don't say goodbye" and "Burn the sun" are two appreciable hard rock tracks, with the former seeing a fleeting insertion of keyboards while the latter flows directly with a compelling and seventies riff by guitarist Jack Starr.

Guardians of the Flame is therefore an album with no great pretensions, containing ten tracks of hard/heavy that are in no way comparable to that indissoluble union between melody and power that we will find in later masterpieces. The track of the record is soon explained, with Defeis as the absolute leader behind the microphone and Jack Starr "painting" riff after riff with his six-string. "Life of crime" is all of this, but passes without leaving a mark, unlike the two emblematic tracks of the album: "The redeemer" and "Guardians of the flame", stylistic emblems of what will happen in the future. Songs more heavy and complex, in which one can already glimpse a certain taste for melody which will soon forcefully become part of the artistic baggage of the American band. The record flows pleasantly without particular jolts. Worth mentioning, however, is the concluding "A cry in the night", a ballad with a seventies rock/pop flavor. Perhaps a bit out of place but appreciable and engaging.

Virgin Steele somewhat retraces Pantera in their "different" style beginning compared to what the two bands will do in the future. Even this Guardians of the Flame is separated from the Virgin Steele discography, although one can read between the lines a point of contact with the subsequent works. It remains, however, a good rock album and that is enough.

1. "Don't Say Goodbye (Tonight)" (4:23)
2. "Burn The Sun" (4:24)
3. "Life Of Crime" (4:40)
4. "The Redeemer" (7:05)
5. "Birth Through Fire" (0:40)
6. "Guardians Of The Flame" (6:45)
7. "Metal City" (4:12)
8. "Hell Or High Water" (3:17)
9. "Go All The Way" (3:11)
10. "A Cry In The Night" (4:05)