Another new section for 2013, in which I'll be looking at not one, not two, but three related albums in the one review. As long as we don't go over the max character count, that is, otherwise I'll have to split it into two. Well, we'll see. The albums will either be related by theme, band, be part of a trilogy or maybe even three different takes by three different artistes on the one subject. Who knows? I'm still working it out. The first one however is by one band, a trilogy of concept albums that, well, aren't really concept albums, but are linked by a common thread running through them all. I'll be reviewing each album and seeing how it relates to the other two, or indeed how it fails to.
The marriage of Heaven and Hell, Part I --- Virgin Steele --- T&T/Noise (1994)
Although Virgin Steele had begun something of a transition from a straightahead metal band with 1986's "Noble savage", the two albums following that saw the band more or less returning to their roots as seen on albums such as "Guardians of the flame" and the debut self-titled, and it was only here that Virgin Steele began to truly explore symphonic and power metal, and began to link themes in their songs, resulting in a loose trilogy of concept albums based around the ideas of death, religion, beliefs and mythology. As main lyricist, the songs are all from the brain of founder and vocalist David DeFeis, with guitarist Ed Pursino helping to write the music. Albums like these three would later lead to other epic compositions, such as the two-disc "House of Atreus" and 2006's "Visions of Eden." For a metal band they certainly bucked what was seen as the expected trend, with no black metal or references to the devil, concentrating here at least instead on the gods of legend, and as the title says, Heaven and Hell.
It opens with a powerful blast of metal in "I will come for you", with DeFeis's vocals rising above the grinding guitars of Pursino, an avenging angel straight out of Hell. I'm always comparing bands to Iron Maiden I know, but the opening guitar riff here is right out of "22 Acacia Avenue", and the guitars throughout just remind me of Maiden. DeFeis also plays keyboards, and their addition here give the music a very epic and even orchestral feel. The song slow down halfway, Joey Ayvazian's drums counting out the steady rhythm and DeFeis's voice going up a whole octave, taking on something of a falsetto feel. As the song ends it speeds back up, and runs into "Weeping of the spirits", which opens on an almost acoustic guitar line with a soft vocal, the gentle tone suddenly dissolving in a barrage of guitar and drums as the song kicks into life. It cannons along on Pursino's blistering guitar and Ayvazian's pounding percussion, with DeFeis's keyboard touches adding a real sense of cinematic drama to it.
One of those "king of the highway" songs on the surface, "Blood and gasoline" rocks along with the very best of them, but betrays a sadness in the lyric, which concerns growing old while trying to hold on to your youth and vitality, while "Self crucifixion" (As Neil said in "The Young Ones", it's just impossible: there's no way you can hammer in the last nail!) is a little slower and crunchier, with some nice melody on the guitar, a little less frenetic but with a lot of drama in the music. I could be wrong, but the lyric
"There's no escape from this hotel" sounds to me like they're paying homage to --- the
Eagles? Hey, it's a great and seminal album... The religious imagery continues (sort of backwards though) with the sound of hammers and DeFeis groaning
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" but the song is called "Last Supper". Hmm. The subject matter couldn't be clearer as Jesus berates Judas the betrayer. Another slow cruncher, though halfway through it kicks up in tempo on the back of some screaming guitar from Pursino, and then slows back down to crunch out the ending, taking us into the first instrumental, a beautifully classical piece of piano and synth with more than a touch of seventies progressive rock about it. The hard grinding guitar returns for "Trail of tears", with a great guitar build up to a smouldering solo and David DeFeis snarling the vocal, and it ends on a rather nice acoustic instrumental guitar line with sort of falsetto cries from the singer.
Things take off at breakneck pace then for "The raven's song", with Ed Pursino displaying some superb neo-classical guitarwork and DeFeis adding in some effective keyboard work while also straining his voice to almost breaking point at times during the song, and more than a touch of Edgar Allen Poe in the lyric, then everything slows right down again for the first (only?) ballad on the album. Carried on acoustic guitar with a gravelly vocal from DeFeis, "Forever will I roam" is a real change of pace, especially after the power and speed of the last few tracks --- well, most of the album really. I'm guessing at most of the subjects here, where I do hazard a guess, as most of the reviews I've read are more concerned with things like
"this fooking rawks man!" and
"Virgin Steele rule!" (well, not that bad, in fairness, but none of them have given me much if any insight into the supposed theme or concept running through the albums), but I think this may be the song of Cain wandering through the world for eternity as punishment for the slaying of his brother. David is also able to display his prowess on the piano here, proving the old maxim that metal bands write the best ballads. But of course what metal bands do best is rock out, and "I wake up screaming" re-establishes order with a headshaker, trundling along like a steam locomotive without a driver, seemingly the tortured dreams of a madman in an asylum, then it seems that "Forever will I roam" is not the only ballad, as "House of dust" slows proceedings down again, with some very orchestral keyboards from DeFeis but also seeming to continue that theme, as DeFeis asks
"Who tends the garden when I'm not there?" before "Blood of the saints" gets things rockin' again, quoting "The Lord of the Rings, and followed by another headbanger in "Life among the ruins". Now I'm not entirely sure if this has anything to do with the 1993 album of the same name, although that album doesn't have a title track; I haven't actually heard it. I'm guessing from the lyrics it could be an account of
Dies irae, Judgement Day.
The title track to this album is also the closer, and the only other instrumental on it, giving again free rein to DeFeis's love of classical music, and he does a spectacular job at the piano, with Pursino backing him up with some soulful guitar, the whole thing very progressive in feel. It's rather short, the second-shortest at just over three and a half minutes and a really nice finale to the album, and to the first part of the trilogy. Very epic and orchestral sounding, very impressive.
TRACKLISTING
1. I will come for you
2. Weeping of the spirits
3. Blood and gasoline
4. Self crucifixion
5. Last supper
6. Warriors' lament
7. Trail of tears
8. The raven's song
9. Forever will I roam
10. I wake up screaming
11. House of dust
12. Blood of the saints
13. Life among the ruins
14. The marriage of Heaven and Hell, part I
The marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II --- Virgin Steele --- 1995 (T&T/Noise)
And so we move on to the second album in the trilogy, the second part of "The marriage of Heaven and Hell", which opens quite progressive rocklike, with a nice piano and harpsichordal intro from David DeFeis, rather cinematic and dramatic, almost an overture before the guitars and drums cut in and "A symphony of steele" gets going. Whereas the first album seemed more concentrated on Christian mythology (God, the Devil, Heaven, Hell) this time out he widens the scope to include gods of legend, speaking as the Roman god Mercury here in the opener.There's definitely a more keyboard-oriented sound to this, and it seems too that DeFeis is strengthening his grip on the songwriting. On the last album he wrote all the lyrics while Ed Pursino co-wrote the music. Here, though that is the case on some tracks, on eight out of the thirteen tracks DeFeis writes both music and lyrics, fleshing out his vision for the trilogy it would seem. The first four tracks are all his own creations, possibly why you can hear the keys taking more of an active role than they did on the previous album. "Crown of glory" thunders along nicely, with a great solo from Pursino, and I must say that I already feel more of a kinship with this album than I did with the first in the trilogy. I do however find this song a little confusing, meshing what appears to be imagery of a viking funeral ---
"Raise my ashes to the wind/ Remember things I conquered in my time/ Quench my funeral pyre with wine" --- with Christian religion ---
"No longer denied/ With Eve as my bride/ The doors to the Kingdom open wide" --- and even some "Lord of the Rings" ---
"I challenge the nine in Heaven divine" --- but it's a great track.
A powerful, marching instrumental in "From chaos to creation" with real punch and drama, then we're into "Twilight of the Gods", another great rocker with a great drumbeat and a real sense of charging into battle. Imagery not confused at all here; DeFeis is singing about
Ragnaroko, the End of the World in Norse mythology. Pursino's growling, snapping guitar leads in "Rising unchained", continuing that theme (even if the Underworld is mistakenly named as Hades, which is Greek, while the Norse knew it as Hel --- yeah, nerd nerd nerd, I know!) a song which rather surprisingly ends with a nice little introspective piece of guitar, setting us up for the first ballad, another DeFeis creation. "Transfiguration" features some solid piano from David as well as a gutsy vocal and a really expressive and emotional guitar solo, something in the line of Gary Moore, from Ed Pursino. "Prometheus the fallen one" then has a definite arabic tinge to it, and shifts the focus to Greek myth with the tale of the god who stole fire for Man and was punished by Zeus. That could be a sitar in there (but may not be) and there's a long instrumental intro with banks of keyboards and choral vocals, very symphonic indeed. It kicks off into life in about the second minute, and rocks along really nicely until about halfway through when it slows down really effectively, the keys setting up a lush atmosphere while Pursino shows once again he can be just as laidback on the guitar as he can make it scream. Flying off again the song hits the tempo back up, and it really is one of the most progressive on the album so far.
The longest track on the album is next, just barely short of ten minutes. "Emalaith" is another solo DeFeis effort, though after the next track he will collaborate with Pursino up to the album's closing track, which he writes on his own. "Emalaith" starts out in a soft, relaxed manner but you get the feeling it may be building up to something, and there's not really any question that it's a ballad, even if it sounds like one. For about ninety seconds, after which Pursino winds up and the song takes off, though there is definitely a more prominent role for the synths here than there has been in the last few tracks. It's probably the most symphonic metal track on the album. Very progressive too, as it goes through several changes over its duration. It's actually pretty amazing to realise it's just four guys making this music: at times it sounds like they used a full orchestra!
"Strawgirl" is another triumph, a gentle but powerful ballad mostly on piano, and the last solo composition by DeFeis before the closer. It seems to concern the singer standing and mourning over the forgotten grave of an unknown woman, and wondering what sort of life she had, and who if anyone misses her now she has passed on? Things get rockin' again with "Devil/angel" as Pursino pulls out all the stops, the song talking about the thin line between good and evil, and how one can go disguised as the other and not be recognised till it's too late, then "Unholy water" is a mid-paced cruncher, bringing things back a little with what sounds like a stab at organised religion before "Victory is mine" pushes it all back to the max with the last rocker on the album, some great keyboard work and DeFeis on top form vocally. The album closes on another instrumental, "The marriage of Heaven and Hell revisited", as indeed the first album had a similar title. It is in fact quite close to that final track, though perhaps with more keyboard in it than the other one had. Nevertheless, a very fitting and satisfying end to a really excellent album.
TRACKLISTING
1. A symphony of steele
2. Crown of glory
3. From chaos to creation
4. Twilight of the Gods
5. Rising unchained
6. Transfiguration
7. Prometheus the fallen one
8. Emalaith
9. Strawgirl
10. Devil/angel
11. Unholy water
12. Victory is mine
13. The marriage of Heaven and Hell revisited
And so we move into the endgame, with the third and final album in this trilogy. Avoiding the obvious they don't call it "The marriage of Heaven and Hell Part III", but instead take the latin word for undefeated or unconquered, "Invictus" as the title for the album that wraps everything up.