Still a cult act among fans of the genre, VIRGIN STEELE are pioneers of U.S. Metal, one of the first bands to expand the genre in America. The band morphed their musical style over the time to this day, all revolving around metal.
Their ’80s albums are classic in its craft, but their last from that decade, 1988’s ”Age Of Consent” has the best of both worlds; traditional U.S. Metal mixed with classic Hard Rock songs. Now the album is about to be reissued, remastered and expanded with an extra disc.
”Age Of Consent [2-CD Remastered reissue]” is where VIRGIN STEELE found its voice, melodic, polished melodic metal with some rockin’ tunes in between balancing a pure ’80s LP.
The album opens with one of the best songs VIRGIN STEELE ever recorded, their classic The Burning of Rome (Cry for Pompeii). It’s epic, majestic and emotional, lyrically it speaks of the destruction of everything that’s beautiful on this world. Let it Roar, Prelude of Evening, Lion in Winter and Stranger at the Gate are just other superb slices of melodious metal.
Do you need some hard rock groove in the American style? Songs like Seventeen, Tragedy, On the Wings of the Night, Stay on Top, Cry Forever and Chains of Fire, provide. Oh, and they do a cover of Uriah Heep’ Stay On Top, and on the bonus disc Screaming for Vengeance [Judas Priest].
Then all of a sudden we get Perfect Mansions, one of the best ballads frontman David Defeis ever wrote. It’s emotional, plenty of atmosphere, and there’s a wonderful solo. Serpent’s Kiss is a darker, riff orientated track, with a lot of punch.
Desert Plains is another Judas Priest cover and the result is as good as the original. We are Eternal is a great atmospheric epic song which sounds a little like Queensryche in the old days.
If you never heard VIRGIN STEELE or perhaps only their recent albums – if you’re fan of ’80s US metal / biting hard rock you should check out ”Age Of Consent [2-CD Remastered reissue]”. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Highly Recommended
CD 1
01 – The Burning of Rome (Cry for Pompeii)
02 – Let it Roar
03 – Prelude to Evening
04 – Lion in Winter
05 – Stranger at the Gate
06 – Perfect Mansions (Mountains of the Sun)
07 – Coils of the Serpent
08 – Serpent’s Kiss
09 – On the Wings of the Night
10 – Seventeen
11 – Tragedy
12 – Stay on Top [Uriah Heep cover]
13 – Chains of Fire
14 – Desert Plains [Judas Priest cover]
15 – Cry Forever
16 – We are Eternal
CD 2
01 – Screaming for Vengeance [Judas Priest cover]
02 – The Curse
03 – Breach of Lease
04 – Another Nail in the Cross
05 – A Changeling Dawn (Noble Savage Acoustic)
06 – Under the Graveyard Moon
07 – Down by the River
David DeFeis – Vocals, Keyboards
Edward Pursino – Guitars
Joe “O” – Bass
Joey Ayvazian – Drums