Virgin Steele
Noble Savage

LA RECENSIONE

It's 1985. The Virgin Steele have been active for 4 years, and it's time for the release of their third album: "Noble Savage". This is the work with which the band's personal and unmistakable style is definitively established, defined by many as Romantic Epic Metal. Why Romantic Epic Metal?

The music offered by the 4 New Yorkers has often been compared to their more famous cousins, Manowar, and it's perhaps in this comparison that their real personality emerges. If Manowar is the epic music devoted solely to aggression and less musical elaboration, Virgin Steele is the exact opposite. They are the "cultured" epic (so to speak), rich in elegant keyboards, with marked tendencies towards lyricism, mainly due to the passion for the piano of the singer-leader David DeFeis, a true metal institution. His screaming is certainly sharp and compelling, but it easily alternates with a seductive and melodic falsetto which, alongside the precise and meticulous guitar work by Pursino, bends the group towards not greater pandering, but certainly a completely new charm in the world of Heavy Metal.
But as mentioned, these are only the early signs of a musical idea that has yet to be fully developed. And indeed, occasionally the group still finds itself paying homage to other styles, like the finale of the opener (who said Joey DeMaio?), or “Rock Me”, evidently in continuity with the great Hard'n'Heavy of W.A.S.P. and company.

However, the value of the album, beyond its high-quality song-writing, lies in the moments when truly new ideas blossom. I'm referring to the chorus of the splendid “Thy Kingdom Come”, and the title track, which foreshadows many aspects of Virgin Steele's subsequent production. In 1996 the album was re-released and remastered, in honor of the decade anniversary, adding 6 bonus tracks in addition to the 10 already present, all originally written for this album but left out due to space issues.

In reality, in this edition, the album feels verbose, and it struggles more to hide its flaws: the band is still a little immature, but the talent is immense, and it won’t take long to come to light.