Virgin Steele are a band that, despite being around for a very long time, never achieved more than a strong cult following among heavy metal fans. SPV/Steamhammer is re-issuing Life Among the Ruins, the bands fifth full-length studio album , which was originally released in 1993. This re-release will be a 2CD digipack, with the original album remastered, rare and previously unreleased material,covers, alternate mixes, acoustic songs, and some newly recorded stuff. For the loyal Virgin Steele fan and collector, this will be a release worth seeking out.
Seeing as we were only given the tracks of the remastered original album to review, I can only comment on those, but they've done a great job on the remaster treatment on these semi-commerical sounding American metal songs. In looking back, Life Among the Ruins probably came out 5-6 years too late, as by 1993 grunge was all the rage and American metal was practically dead. Many of these songs would have easily resonated with metal fans during the 1985-1989 period, as tracks like "Sex Religion Machine", "Love Is Pain", "I Dress in Black", "Crown of Thorns", "Snakeskin Voodoo Man", and "Wildfire Woman" are fun, catchy, hard rock & metal tunes not so far removed from what Van Halen, Dokken, Ratt, and Motley Crue were going at the time. Fueled by the powerful vocals of David DeFeis and the capable guitar talents of Edward Pursino, Virgin Steele paired their musical talents with memorable songs with just enough crunch for a formula that really worked well but was unfortunately a bit too late to the game.
If you missed out on Life Among the Ruins the first time, this fully stocked and loaded re-issue gives you all the reason to finally make that purchase. Good stuff.
Track Listing
CD#1: "LIFE AMONG THE RUINS"
1. SEX RELIGION MACHINE
2. LOVE IS PAIN
3. JET BLACK
4. INVITATION
5. I DRESS IN BLACK (WOMAN WITH NO SHADOW)
6. CROWN OF THORN
7. CAGE OF ANGELS
8. NEVER BELIEVED IN GOODBYE
9. TOO HOT TO HANDLE
10. LOVE'S GONE
11. SNAKESKIN VOODOO MAN full electric version-bonus track
12. WILDFIRE WOMAN
13. HAUNTING THE LAST HOURS
14. LAST ROSE OF SUMMER
Additional Bonus Tracks:
15. SNAKESKIN VOODOO MAN-Live Acoustic Rehearsal Version
16. JET BLACK-Live Acoustic Rehearsal Version
17. PURPLE RAIN-Live Acoustic Rehearsal Version
18. WILDFIRE WOMAN-Live Acoustic Rehearsal Version
19. EYES WITHOUT A FACE-Live Acoustic Rehearsal Version
CD #2: "MY MOURNING CLOTHES"
1. WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS-new bonus track
2. SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL-new bonus track
3. MY MOURNING CLOTHES-new bonus track
4. MAMBO SUN-new bonus track
5. BALLROOMS OF MARS -new bonus track
"The Vertical Soul Suite":
6. WILD THING-new bonus track
7. THE MOONRISE IN YOUR SKIN-new bonus track
8. WILD THING "Reprise"-new bonus track
9. THE MAGICK IN YOUR SIN-new bonus track
10. SEX RELIGION MACHINE-never released New York Mix
11. JET BLACK-never released New York Mix
12. CROWN OF THORNS-never released New York Mix
13. CAGE OF ANGELS-never released New York Mix
14. NEVER BELIEVED IN GOODBYE-never released New York Mix
15. LOVE IS PAIN-USA-never released New York Mix
16. INVITATION-never released New York Mix
17. I DRESS IN BLACK (WOMAN WITH NO SHADOW)-never released NY Mix
18. TOO HOT TO HANDLE-never released New York Mix
19. LOVE'S GONE-never released New York Mix
20. FLESH & BLOOD-never released bonus track
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