Originally marketed as Virgin Steele II, Guardians of the Flame has been revisited by stalwart Virgin Steele member David DeFeis and been completely remixed (alongside the band’s debut) for reissue next month.
I’d long considered VSII to be the best album in the Virgin Steele canon, a thrilling proto-US power metal rager that, alongside the companioning EP that came out shortly afterwards, constituted some of the best heavy metal to come out of America not made by Manowar in the early eighties. And, if I were to revisit those records in their original states, I’m sure I’d agree with myself. But these remixes? I’m not so sure.
Of course, the songs remain the same, and in the shape of tracks like Life of Crime, The Redeemer, Guardians of The Flame, A Cry In The Night, I Am The One and Go Down Fighting you have half a dozen straight-down-the-line American metal classics. But, whilst DeFeis claims to have cleaned up the original recordings and added better definition to their sonics, he also seems to have successfully depowered the guitars of Jack Starr completely, in the process devaluing his former bandmate’s contributions to the VS legacy, so that whilst key licks and solos remain, Starr’s punishing riffage seems largely muted… Listening back to back to the original and new versions of Guardians of the Flame, for instance, there can be no doubt which is the more ‘heavy metal’ (SPOILER: it’s not the new one). This would appear to be a fine exemplar of the old adage about history being written by the victors, and it is a definite downgrade in this reviewer’s opinion.
Still, I’m sure you’ll make up your own minds about this, and if you’re a completist you’ll probably already have your pre-order in so what does my opinion matter? Talking of completists, if you aren’t one but are still interested in making a purchase you may be interested to know that GOTF and the EP are augmented by the band’s interesting take on Judas Priest‘s Desert Plains, which is well worth a listen. Unfortunately the same can’t be said about the horrific Meat Loaf pastiche Dirty Blonde Angel or the bewildering Bob Dylan remake that is The Heaven’s Door Suite… Was it Mr Loaf who said one out of three ain’t bad? (No, he didn’t -Ed).
Guardians of the Flame releases on August 23rd.
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