Virgin Steele – The Black Light Bacchanalia

Many years of waiting create great expectations. After «Visions of Eden», which was an album unworthy of their name, Virgin Steele return with their new album «The Black Light Bacchanalia». I listen to it over and over again in vain, searching for any good element to mention. Actually there are two. The raw, compared to their previous efforts, production and the heavier guitars. That is actually all there is. Oh and the cover artwork which is by far superior to the ridiculous pony and its visions.

The glorious days of old are gone forever. From pure and Virgin the Steel became abused and raped. Following the disappointing course of Manowar, Virgin Steele deliver a nerveless, pointless album that insults their own past. A retrospective approach to their far past seems or is heard, to be more accurate, sadly funny. David «The Lion» Defeis has turned from a Lion to a kitty with that continual use of meows and niars, trying to imitate his teen voice and fill the gaps that the composing incompetence has left behind. No vocal line to be remembered after ten or fifteen hearings. «Noble Savage», «Symphony of Steel» or any song from the «Marriage of Heaven and Hell/Invictus» saga seem like they came from another band, from a parallel universe. I always thought that their drumming and its sound has always been their weakest point but nowadays it’s the only thing I don’t even pay attention to. Everything has changed.

I always wanted them to see them perform live, after i missed them to my hometown at 1998, and now i fear of going to a Virgin Steele show, just to hear songs from their 3 last albums. They have 10 years to deliver a single great composition and this is unforgivable, even to a die-hard fan. I expect nothing more from this, once favorite, band. Their Swords have rusted, the flame has been extinguished. Neither Epic, nor Barbaric. Surely not, BY THE GODS!