#david defeis

Monday, March 30: Virgin Steele, “Children of the Storm”

Virgin Steele: Guardians of the Flame (1983)

In my youth, I wouldn’t touch this album with a ten-foot pole -- or a ten-foot sword, for that matter -- but sheer nostalgia and that glorious fantasy cover art have me writing about it today.

Mind you, I still wouldn’t recommend Virgin Steele to most people, unless they have an unquenchable thirst for metal in all its forms; but I suppose the New York outfit did their small part to pioneer the neoclassical and power metal genres, or what they called “symphonic, romantic and bombastic” music.

Check, check and, uh, check!

All kidding aside, by the release of their sophomore album, Guardians of the Flame, in 1983, the young group already found themselves at a creative crossroads ...

Should they take the high road towards ambitious, castle metal fantasies with limited commercial potential, or embrace the vacuous brand of hair metal more likely to land them on the radio airwaves?

Guitarist Jack Starr certainly seemed partial to the latter, if brainless cuts like “Life of Crime,” “Metal City,” “Hell or High Water” and “Go All the Way” were any indication.

But then, his partner in crime, vocalist and keyboardist David DeFeis also seemed tempted by the pop metal demons, based on the anthemic “Don’t Say Goodbye (Tonight)” and big-ass ballad “A Cry in the Night.”

For what it’s worth, the two men actually saw eye to eye whilst collaborating on the album’s grandiose title track and the even more epic “The Redeemer,” while Starr managed to -- ahem! -- redeem himself on the unrepentantly metallic “Burn the Sun.”

So it’s not like there was an obvious and undeniable schism raging within Virgin Steele’s ranks (which, incidentally, were filled out by bassist Joe O’Reilly and drummer Joey Ayvazian), but something clearly had to give ...

And, sure enough, band founder Starr was summarily ousted the following year (replaced by Edward Pursino), launching a lengthy legal battle over the band’s name that eventually freed DeFeis to commit himself unconditionally to his so-called “symphonic, romantic and bombastic” heavy metal.

Tuesday, June 20: Virgin Steele, “Burn the Sun”

Hot on the heels of last summer’s brand new Bombastic Epic release “The Passion of Dionysus”, this summer the first two VIRGIN STEELE albums will be re-issued on August 23, 2024  David DeFeis has included an additional moniker to these re-releases… he calls it…”The Anniversary Edition”, for he has completely re-mixed the albums start to finish from the original multi-tracks. The booklet includes…

David DeFeis has returned for Virgin Steele‘s fourteenth or seventeenth studio album, depending on whom you ask. Has he rediscovered the magick of the nineties, or will this turn into a Greek drama? Let’s find out. Continue reading Untitled