Virgin Steele
Life Among The Ruins

THE REVIEW

The disappointment is substantial. For those who "grew up" under the axe of Virgin Steele, for those who loved their early albums, the latest dreadful "The Black Light Bacchanalia" has swept away like a tsunami the credibility that DeFeis & Co. had earned with years of live performances and seminal records born amidst a thousand different difficulties.

As often happens when someone's latest work turns out to be hard to digest, you go back to "revisit the first ones" or at least those that have left a mark more than others, whether for importance or personal attachment. This is the reason that made me fish out from the pile of forgotten CDs "Life Among the Ruins," the fifth offspring in the Steele house.

It might have been by chance, but what I found in my hands is probably the most controversial album by the four Americans. Released a full five years after the excellent "Age of Consent," the album in question departs in sound from any other Virgin Steele album. It has little to nothing in common with the band’s early raw heavy metal and little to none of the epic nature of the two "Marriage of Heaven and Hell" and the pompousness of the latest releases. David DeFeis and Edward Pursino, respectively singer and guitarist, and above all the two most stylistically influential characters within Steele, decided that their return to the scene should be something new for the combo. And so "Life Among the Ruins" was born, the first (and only) hard rock album by Virgin Steele.

It's not clear exactly what happened to DeFeis in these long five years, but he seems to have had some disappointments because the theme of love returns recurrently. It is the subject of the splendid ballads "Love is Pain", "Cry Forever", "Last Rose of Summer", "Wild Fire Woman": all characterized by a mixture of melody, hard rock, and sudden AOR explosions. There are also more energetic episodes like "I Dress in Black" and "Too Hot to Handle": decent pieces of classic hard rock where DeFeis's voice fits and modulates wonderfully on the track trail. A whole different depth compared to recent times...

Certainly, Life Among the Ruins is not the most successful CD by Virgin Steele. It is not stylistically up their alley, even though an excellent result came out. It is unripe, there are parts to "smooth out," but even in its not entirely successful execution, it sends signals: in 1993, the release of this album still gave confirmations about the band's future. Today, after the laxative titled "The Black Light Bacchanalia," the times to come are dark: there is the awareness that the golden years of Steele are gone and won't return.

1. "Sex Religion Machine" (4:43)
2. "Love Is Pain" (3:53)
3. "Jet Black" (4:14)
4. "Invitation" (1:16)
5. "I Dress In Black" (4:46)
6. "Crown Of Thorns" (6:28)
7. "Cage Of Angels" (0:55)
8. "Never Believed In Goodbye" (4:23)
9. "Too Hot To Handle" (4:39)
10. "Love's Gone" (4:29)
11. "Wild Fire Woman" (4:43)
12. "Cry Forever" (4:32)
13. "Haunting The Last Hours" (0:54)
14. "Last Rose Of Summer" (4:19)