I'd go like this:

Marriage 1 - 9.5
Marriage 2 -9.8
Invictus - 10
Atreus 1 - 9.7
Atreus 2 - 8

Disc two on Atreus II starts to lose it a little, particularly the "By the Gods" suite tracks.

I was really into all of it actually - a lot of that second disc seemed to give him time to flesh out his ideas and play long, which maybe he'd wanted to do on a bunch of the preceding ones. Could've maybe used another heavy track to break things up on disc 2, but I'm not one to really nitpick that - liked the soulful side of it all.

Guess I gotta go back to Invictus soon, been a long time.

I recently noticed that some songs on disc two have MIDI drums.

Didn’t enjoy the new single whatsoever. As other pointed out, David’s vocal histrionics ruin what could otherwise be decent material. Visions of Eden was the last album that I thought was solid through and through. The rest have been patchy with a few decent bits.

Getting any of the classic 5 on vinyl is far harder than it should be given the long lasting appeal they hold to epic and power metal fans. I lucked out on getting Night of the Living Vinyl reissue of Atreus Acts I & II at a very decent price, sealed. But no such luck finding reasonably priced copies of Marriage I, II and Invictus.
They should never go out of print IMO.

I caved and bought "Nocturnes..." and the "Seven Devils" boxed set. "Nocturnes..." is fucking cool, I can't claim that every song is a winner, but for the most part I'm digging it. "Auto-tuned mid-life crisis metal"(?) for the win.

"Ghost Harvest I" is confirmed to be weird as fuck but I can still dig about 2/3 of it. A few of the songs aren't worthy but I can't really call them awful or offensive, just boring (like "Justine", seriously, there's no real mood or feeling in this one unlike most VS ballads). A line of sorts can at least be drawn from "Nocturnes..." to this.

"Ghost Harvest II" was awful though in pretty much every track other than "The Triple Goddess", which has some female operatic vocals here and there that remind me of Therion of all bands. "The Evil in Her Eyes" is a nice piano/vocal version and the two "acoustic rehearsal" tracks at the end also sound pleasant. But most of this shit was just bizarre. Two of the tracks consisted of piano and the most aggressive double-bass drumming I've ever heard in Virgin Steele. WTF? Many of these are covers but the style is so weird that they might as well be originals (who wants a "Jesus Just Left Chicago" cover that is practically a cappella?). I can't knock originality and writing/performing whatever music you want and not just "doing one for the fans", but I can't image much of an audience for this disc other than David himself.

"Gothic Voodoo Anthems" I generally liked since a little over half of it is just interpreting VS songs that already exist, just in a very different way, and it doesn't change the fact that the songs are inherently good. The originals and covers mainly in the second half didn't fare as well but at least they didn't offend like "Ghost Harvest II" did, just kind of blended into the background.

And that's my mini-review.

The new song sounds great. I'm honestly cautiously optimistic about this album!

dude, "Justine" is fucking heartbreaking. Love that song. Beautiful chorus and the lyrics are great too.

Idk man, whenever I think of the chorus it's just grating. "Princess Amy" is quite pleasant so I think that satisfies my desire for a "ballad about a named woman". Haha.

Lyric video of 'The Gethsemane Effect' will be online in 38 hours. Can't wait to be disappointed once again.

Disappointment implies you still have expectations

Here it is and eh, the song itself isn't bad; it sounds a lot more focused than the previous one. The guitars do more, but the shitty production and DeFeis' awful vocal are way too annoying.

New song's okay, but why why why does the production have to be so shit? I wish he would explain why he keeps doing it because it can't be money, surely. It has to be a conscious choice because it's plagued his last several albums now. Just why, bro? Just why?

there's a class of guy who goes, "i can do it on my own!" and there are three paths that guy will go down:

1. realize they, in fact, CANNOT do it on their own and get someone else to record
2. hack away at learning how until they actually get good enough to do it on their own
3. the worst kind, the guy who doesnt ever actually learn how to do it at a proper enough level, but does it for so long they convince themselves that theyre good enough to keep doing it.

DeFeis is definitely the third one. either through being cheap, a control freak, or maybe both, and has been doing it for so long he'll never hand the reins over. you'd think over time he'd get better, but clearly he hears these mixes and thinks theyre good enough.

There's actually some pretty sweet instrumental sections where he just won't shut the fuck up. He can't control himself. I can imagine the guitarist giving him that look of if you don't shut that fuckin hole this axe is gonna get bloodied.

I liked it. It reminded me of Visions of Eden and I can see it fit on that album with its original meek production values version. David's keyboards and vocals fit what's happening here better than the other song but yeah, the production could be better.

It sounds like someone added vocals to a Doom midi.

I was thinking the "rock" setting on a toy keyboard.

It has leaked.

EDIT: Jesus, this is awful. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I expected this to be good, but with guitars hardly doing shit, this makes Nocturnes sound like a riff monster in comparison. Only the last track has some cool riffs floating around. I still think that the opener is a decent tune too, but otherwise NOTHING sticks. Of course, DeFeis sounds awful 99% of the time and the programmed drums are a pain in the ass.

A third song has been released

This isn't metal. This isn't metal. This isn't metal.

If you liked "Visions of Eden" and "The Black Light Bacchanalia", this is for you as it's in the same ballpark, albeit with an obvious rock bent. Don't think of it as a metal album but as underground singer- / songwriter music / girl-at-a-piano rock with occasional excursions towards symphonic rock and metal riffs. The programmed drums are the uninspired bare-bones backbone, but the intricate compositions, hooks and melodies are up there with DeFeis's best.

Of course, people will complain about the fact that his last "real" and "vivid" "metal album" was released decades ago but what do they expect in 2023? His music just isn't guitar music but piano music or rather wooden piano music, homerecorded wooden piano music, produced somewhere between the kitchen and a walk with the dog. As a listener, all you have to do is wait until you're in the mood for something this unagitated.

Does anyone need it? Probably not. Would I recommend it to anyone interested in music released under the moniker "Virgin Steele?" Yes. And to people interested in something in the vein of e.g. Lana Lane.

Not bad so far, really... long and sort of aimless, but I mean at this point I guess if you know what to expect, it's weird to come in and be shocked at it or whatever. He clearly doesn't care what the fans of his metal work want which is at least admirable. I find it less grating than the last album anyway.

Some of the sections where he can get a good piano riff and some non-falsetto vocal melodies are kinda cool.

Mweh. Visions had some of DeFeis' best singing and some hook-driven songs. TBLB started off well and even some of the less-heavy songs such as 'The Bread of Wickedness' and 'In a Dream of Fire' are cool. This album is a fucking aimless mess of piano nonsense and horrible autotuned vocals. Only the opener made me think that this album could have turned out well if it weren't for the vocals and production.

^ Well, ok, there was a time when the vocals were better but don't you think that the "aimless mess of piano nonsense" could turn out to be "sense" after ten listens or so? I mean some of the longer tracks are fairly complex and some parts are full of subtleties, so they'll take some time to unravel.

Why the hell anyone would give an album of auto tuned vocals, absent guitars and programmed drums 10 spins is beyond me.

Well all that's really just the surface level, just to talk generally. There can always be other things to talk about with music.

Most of the real issues with his work lately has been the songwriting just not being as catchy or focused as his best work. But even then you can see some still find merit in it. This new one I'm actually coming around on in ways I didn't for the last few...

Almost done and I have to say I kind of like it. The songs feel a little more coherent and it all comes together about as well as I think it could. Some quite pleasant atmospherics and dramatic vibes, and the vocals are a lot better this time. Better than his other recent albums for sure.

Eh, I liked it. It's the strongest of the current VS era.

Love his keyboard playing on You'll Never See The Sun Again.

Not liking it at all so far, and I thought Visions of Eden was a great album and TBLB had solid moments in it.

The bar is literally on the ground at the moment, it can't go any lower, unless he's actually got a spade and is gonna bury the bar Six Feet Under, which at this rate is possible, so the above comment is not saying much at all.


If the highlight is his keyboard playing then awesome I've got to check it out...joking, fuck that. Maybe the thread should be moved over to the tavern.

Nobody's comments are filling me with hope here.

Hello.
Google brought me here.

Why does the new Virgin Steele album sound like it's played in another room, without any bass, and with such poor quality? The music sounds like it might be good but the quality makes listening to it insufferable.

What was Virgin Steele's high water mark then? Many people will say "Invictus" and the two "Atreus" albums but that's a matter of taste. For me, VS get worse the closer they get to catchy symphonic Euro-power metal, and simplistic stuff like "Victory is Mine" was atrocious.



Why do so many people expect VS to be metal? Half of the early stuff up to "Invictus" was hard rock anyway, and if you count the, er, countless later ballads and interludes you end up with a project that is very different from bands like Priest and Manowar, which undoubtedly influenced it.

I'm not saying "You have to like Defeis's recent stuff" but, considering the fact that his stylistic range comprises almost anything from thrash (Exorcist) to "Bohemian Rhapsody" sung by bats on a lone piano in the attic, I'd rather people explained why a particular composition is good or bad.

Simplistic compared to what? Most tunes on Noble Savage and Age of Consent sound simplistic. And let's not even speak of Life Among the Ruins.



Because, with the exception of Life Among the Ruins and symphonic/classical influences aside, Virgin Steele have always been a metal band at their core. Not to mention that David DeFeis hyped this new album up as something in the vein of their /Invictus/Atreus/Visons stuff.

Compared to the more epic and sophisticated tracks like "Prometheus", "Emalaith" or "Noble Savage" (the track, not the album). I'm one of those cherry-pickers who can do without most non-epic VS tracks because I think Defeis's / VS's true strength always lay in the layering and sequencing of unusual ideas, far away from headbanging, stomping, hooks and hummable melodies.



I could start harping on about why the non-metal elements, not the metal elements, made the band stand out but that would be beside the point. My point was: please tell me why the songs rock or suck, regardless of genre. If the answer is: "Because I can't bang my head to this stuff that is supposed to be metal", it doesn't tell me anything about the music itself but only about stylistic expectations.

Well that makes more sense to me.



Because it's all about David and his piano at this point. I'm not even sure who wrote which tunes in the past (DeFeis said that he did with the help of Pursino to lay down the guitars), but the earlier stuff at least sounds as if the whole band was involved. That's definitely no longer the case anymore. Hell, even earlier vocal-orientated tunes like 'Blood and Gasoline' and 'Self Crucifixion' remain brilliant, but nothing on the new album comes close to those tunes. Add a few other issues like DeFeis programming the drums and producing this record on his own and the results are disastrous.

I always did think "Victory is Mine" was an odd choice for one of people's favorites from that album. It's grown on me but it's hardly their most arresting song or anything.

I like later VS but the main problem is that the songs are too meandering and long with sections that drag on a bit further than they need to and they can be a bit plodding. The songs are still good underneath the bloat, though nowhere near his prime. And the near guitar-less production completely saps them of their power. If he cut at least a minute out of his songs, got real production and made the vocals a little less annoying (even if he sang at a lower octave since I don't think he can physically help that), most people would still think VS was pretty good.

well you know why - the chorus is easy to shout along to. It's not one of the top three or four songs on there but it's still a classic.

Yes, it's about David and his piano, it's a one-man band, more or less, and the programmed drums sound really lifeless but what about the songs, the compositions? The only thing you say is that they can't hold a candle to the two old ones you mention but don't explain why.

Personally, I couldn't say much about these tracks at this point and after one listen, it's much too early, only that they're very well thought-out ("The Ritual of Descent"!!), so that comments like "This is a new low" etc. just come across as "I expect something else and can't be bothered to get my teeth into it."

Yeah - without talking about the substance or the songwriting, it's harder to really get to the meat of a critique.

The issue with a lot of modern VS beyond the production is just that looseness, almost like a jam feel at times, and a lot of it just failed to come together as compelling; mostly felt dragging. The vocals were often really grating too. The Ghost Harvest stuff really felt like all the worst parts of this.

So far I think this new one feels like he fixed a lot of that. It isn't catchy like his old shit and the songwriting isn't really based around hard-edged metal - but there's more drama to this stuff and a real mood being created. It's interesting. I'm on my second listen now.

keep telling you guys - Ghost Harvest 1 has some of his best songs post-Atreus. One day you will see the light