Virgin Steele - The Book of Burning

Another album from my favorite band, Virgin Steele. The one I'm uploading tonight, The Book of Burning, is an interesting work. Half of it is composed of re-written and re-recorded tracks from the early days of Virgin Steele, from their first two albums. The other half are songs written in the mid-nineties by David DeFies that never made it onto a VS album (some were also written with the help of former band member, Jack Starr). It was released to celebrate the band's twentieth anniversary. A lot of quality heavy metal on here (yes, this album is heavy metal - some orchestral stuff, but nothing to bring it into the power metal fold), and it's interesting to see how DeFies has changed some of the songs from the band's early days to reflect the style of their later albums. There's some dangerously high levels of cheese in some of these songs, mainly because they were penned in the 80's, before VS's lyrics became more serious. But the songwriting is top-notch, par for the course for Virgin Steele. It isn't quite as good as their other albums because it's not a cohesive work, more just a collection of songs. Also, some of the songs (particularly the new tracks) tend to drag on longer than they should. It's still highly reccomended to fans of the band, and others may enjoy it as well. There are some killer tracks on here - "Guardians of the Flame" is even better than before, "A Cry in the Night" works much better as an acoustic ballad, and "The Redeemer" is one of the best VS songs ever written. If you liked any of the other Virgin Steele albums, this one shouldn't disappoint you.

"We are the guardians of the flame
Masters of the ancient rites
Our duty was ordained;
To protect the realm of light"

The Book of Burning (2002)