VIRGIN STEELE vocalist and keyboardist David DeFeis shares the following update as part of a lengthy new interview:

"We are recording what will be the next new album, which hopefully will be issued before the year is out, and we are also recording the various bonus tracks that will be released on the next re-issues. And in truth we are really working on what will be the next three albums, because there are quite a lot of songs... we are trying to capture everything as the inspiration comes.

As regards what the new album will be all about... I prefer to wait a bit to give you more information, as I am still writing, and I am waiting to see how the latest music develops. Once I know exactly what tracks it will contain I will then be in a better position to describe it to you. But I can tell you that at the moment there are three different... let’s call them Song Cycles or Song Collections. Two of them could be conceived as conceptual, while the third consists of separate unrelated material. We are essentially trying to record everything before committing completely to what we will release first. It will all come out... it’s just a question of what will be first."

To read the Q&A; in its entirety, visit Virgin-Steele.com.

As previously reported, SPV/Steamhammer is re-releasing Virgin Steele's Life Among The Ruins. This two CD digipak comes with massive bonus tracks and a huge booklet with new liner notes and unseen photos by David DeFeis.

Street dates:

Germany: June 15th

Europe: June 18th

North America: July 17th

Life Among The Ruins was the fifth full length studio album by US heavy metal band Virgin Steele. It was originally released in 1993 and it's the first album with bassist Rob DeMartino, who replaced Joe O'Reilly, retired from the scene.

David DeFeis comments on the re-release: "We will shortly be re-releasing our Life Among The Ruins album. This 2012 version will be in digi-pak form and contain not one... but two discs with a large amount of extra ingredients. On the first disc we include five rare and unvarnished acoustic recordings, plus a full band bonus track. On disc number two we have included 20 tracks. These tracks consist of a large amount of newly recorded material completed just this week, as well as alternate mixes of some of the album's original tracks. And in addition we have also included a never released track from somewhere around that period of time. All the material has been re-mastered, and the package will feature copious liner notes, photos and unique packaging!"