Virgin Steele

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Virgin Steele
General information
Genre (s) Heavy metal , power metal
founding 1981
Website http://www.virgin-steele.com/
Founding members
David DeFeis
Jack Starr (until 1983)
Joey Ayvazian (until 1995)
bass
 Joe O'Reilly (until 1987)
Current occupation
Vocals, bass, piano
 David DeFeis (since 1981)
Guitar, bass
 Edward Pursino (since 1983)
Drums
 Frank Gilchriest (since 1995)
bass
 Josh Block (since 2001)
former members
bass
 Rob De Martino (1987 to 2001)

Virgin Steele is a heavy metal band from New York founded in 1981 . You are one of the most famous representatives of US Metal of the 1980s. According to the modern interpretation, they are assigned to Power Metal from the 1990s . You yourself describe your style as barbaric-romantic metal ("barbaric romanticism").

Virgin Steele's music is characterized by its epic-symphonic elements and borrowings from the classical period . Some of the band's releases are concept albums and deal primarily with topics from mythology in general and later also from ancient Greek and Near Eastern mythology in particular.

Band history

The early years

The band was formed in the early 1980s by Jack Starr , a guitarist of French origin, and Joey Ayvazian (drums). Together they were looking for a singer until they came across David DeFeis through a newspaper ad , who also brought bassist Joe O'Reilly into the band.

Virgin Steele made their debut in 1982 with the song Children of the Storm on the compilation US Metal Vol. II . A short time later, their first album, named after them, appeared with the title track Children of the Storm . DeFeis brought in his preference for melodic and pompous arrangements, while Starr preferred the harder and more direct kind. The album Guardians of the Flame followed in 1983 . After the mini LP Wait for the Night , Jack Starr left the band because of a disagreement with DeFeis about the direction of the band. Starr then engaged the former Riot singer Rhett Forrester and released the album Out of Darkness . He tried to keep the rights to the band name Virgin Steele , but lost them in a lawsuit against the rest of the band around David DeFeis, whereupon he hired his former school friend, the guitarist Edward Pursino , to continue the band.

In 1985, Cobra Records, the then Virgin Steele record company, released the thrash metal album Nightmare Theater by an unknown band called Exorcist . Neither the record nor the band received much attention until two years later rumors emerged about the similarities with Virgin Steele: In addition to the record label, the studio (Sonic Sound Studio) and producer (DeFeis) were identical. In addition, the singing of both bands sounded strikingly similar. DeFeis admitted after initial denial that he and Virgin Steele were behind Exorcist. In 2000 the matter finally became clear: The song Fire of Ecstasy from the album The House of Atreus Act II is a remake (with different text) of the Exorcist title Call for the Exorcist .

Hard times

In 1986 the band released Noble Savage , but the album fell short of expected sales. A European tour followed as the opening act for Manowar . The next album, Age of Consent, from 1987, although it received good reviews from the specialist press, again failed to achieve greater circulation and was a commercial failure, not least because the circulation was far too low due to legal problems.

After the band's record company went out of business and bassist Joe O'Reilly decided to leave the band, they couldn't record any more studio albums and go on tour for the time being.

Successful new beginning

It was only in 1993, after lengthy legal disputes with the former management and after a new bass player had been found in Rob De Martino, that the band could be revived. Virgin Steele got a contract with the record company Shark and in the same year released the album Life Among the Ruins , on which - quite unusual for the band - Whitesnake- influenced hard rock with blues- borrowings could be heard.

A year later, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Part 1 , was released, a very progressive, melodic album with epic metal and the strong symphonic influences typical of Virgin Steele . This album was very well received in the metal scene . Virgin Steele came back to Europe to support Manowar and Uriah Heep . In 1995 the album The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Part 2 was released. After another European tour, the third and last part of the "Marriage" saga was released in 1998 with the - musically much heavier - album Invictus . The record sold very well and is considered by many fans to be one of the strongest and most mature VS albums. At least now, the band was a fixture in the metal genre worldwide, although their fame (and their commercial success) could not compete with that of their eternal rival Manowar (which has not changed to this day).

The next studio album, The House of Atreus Act I , was released in 1999 , an atmospheric, multi-layered concept album that deals with Greek mythology .

Shortly thereafter, in 2000, the sequel followed with The House of Atreus Act II (which even became a double album, if not planned).

After 2000

In 2002 two more albums were released at the same time, but without completely new material. One is The Book of Burning , which contains a number of unpublished and newly recorded older works from the band's earlier creative phase. In addition, a best-of compilation called Hymns to Victory with the highlights from the band's career . The pieces selected for this compilation have been remixed and some new elements (e.g. intros ) have been added. Well-known songs were partly re-recorded with a completely different interpretation and instrumentation (e.g. Gate of Kings ).

In 2003 the first two VS albums (which had not been available for years) were completely remastered and re-released by DeFeis.

Due to DeFeis' own projects, Visions of Eden , the successor to The House of Atreus Act II, was only released on September 8, 2006. The album deals thematically with the ancient Near Eastern Lilith myth.

Since their current label went bankrupt, they signed with the German label Dockyard 2 in 2008. In February and November 2008, the albums Noble Savage , Age of Consent , The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part One and The Marriage of Heaven and were released under their new label Hell Part Two re-released. They were completely remastered and provided with a few bonus tracks and an extensive booklet, some live recordings, some new studio songs.

In 2010 Dockyard 2 also went bankrupt, so they signed with Steamhammer SPV. In the same year another studio album was released called The Black Light Bacchanalia . A concept album that is largely independent in terms of content, but that ties in with Visions of Eden in terms of content . Since 2011 they have re-released their entire album catalog starting with Noble Savage. The bonus material is now much more extensive, so that a bonus CD has been created for each album.

SPV has confirmed an anniversary box for autumn 2014, which will contain the albums Hyms to Victory , The Book of Burning and a new album with cover versions and new own titles under the title Ghost Harvest - The Spectral Vintage Sessions , as well as a completely new standalone one for the beginning of 2015 Studio album. The release of a DVD has been announced for a long time , which will deal with the development and career highlights of the band and will also contain live recordings of concerts.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Invictus
  DE 61 05/04/1998 (2 weeks)
The House of Atreus Act I.
  DE 58 10/11/1999 (1 week)
The House of Atreus Act II
  DE 93 10/30/2000 (1 week)
The Book of Burning
  DE 81 01/21/2002 (1 week)
Visions of Eden
  DE 93 09/22/2006 (1 week)

Studio albums

  • 1982: Virgin Steele
  • 1983: Guardians of the Flame
  • 1985: Noble Savage
  • 1988: Age of Consent
  • 1993: Life Among the Ruins
  • 1994: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I.
  • 1995: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II
  • 1998: Invictus
  • 1999: The House of Atreus Act I
  • 2000: The House of Atreus Act II
  • 2006: Visions of Eden
  • 2010: The Black Light Bacchanalia
  • 2015: Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation

Compilations and live albums

  • 2002: The Book of Burning ( compilation )
  • 2002: Hymns to Victory (Best Of)

Singles and EPs

  • 1983: Wait for the Night ( EP )
  • 1983: A Cry in the Night
  • 1993: Snakeskin Voodoo Man
  • 2000: Magick Fire Music (EP)

Remastered and / or re-released

  • 2003: Virgin Steele (1982)
  • 2003: Guardians of the Flame (1983)
  • 2008: Noble Savage (1985)
  • 2008: Age of Consent (1988)
  • 2008: Life Among the Ruins (1993)
  • 2008: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I (1994)
  • 2008: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II (1995)
  • 2011: Noble Savage (2CD digipak) (1985)
  • 2011: Age of Consent (2CD Digipak) (1988)
  • 2012: Life Among the Ruins (2CD Digipak) (1993)
  • 2014: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part One and Two (2CD Digipak) (1994/1995)
  • 2014: Invictus (2CD digipak) (1998)
  • 2016: The House of Atreus Act I and II (3D-Digipak) (1999/2000)
  • 2017: Visions of Eden (2CD digipak) (2006)

Others

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  1. ↑ Chart placements in Germany: highest position + chart data  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.chartsurfer.de  

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