In a new interview with Edmund Alscott, David DeFeis and Edward Pursino of VIRGIN STEELE sat down to talk about their next three reissues of The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell I and II, Invictus and an all new studio album due next year. An excerpt below:

Edmund: Getting back to all things VS, and jumping forward a bit to what you said in your answer to my first question about “more of that later”, what can you tell me about the three new albums that you are currently working on?

David: “Well…let’s see…hmmm…the first one that I wrote and which will probably be the one to be issued next September, musically unfolds like an ‘Opera’, in the vein of The House Of Atreus, or The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell/Invictus Saga. There is a central lyrical theme that binds the music, and speaking of the music it is very heavy, over the top, and full of those ‘classical’ nuances that people have come to expect from a Virgin Steele album. The second ‘Collection’ of tracks that I wrote musically and lyrically do relate to each other, but that album is not necessarily a full on ‘Metal-Opera’ per se. The songs relate to each other more in the way the songs on Noble Savage or Age Of Consent do, where there is a connection, and a through line that binds the work together, but each piece is its own particular world. And… the third album or ‘collection of songs’ that we are currently preparing, features many tracks that Edward and I wrote together, and this one is not a concept album or ‘Opera’. It is simply a collection of songs that work well and sound like they belong together. All three ‘collections’ or albums do have titles and the lyrics are finished, but we won’t reveal the titles of the ‘albums/collections’ or any of the song titles just yet, but in terms of where we are in each album’s development, I can tell you that for ‘Collections’ one, two, and three we have completed a massive amount of the work, and we are now diving back in to finish all the remaining tracking which is still considerable, as there is so much music because the albums are all pretty long. And then of course mixing and mastering will follow. We will probably finish two out of the three ‘Collections’ in one go. Meanwhile we invite you to enjoy the fruits or the ‘Spectral Vintage’ of our busy summer, with our Ghost Harvest album.

Edward: “I can tell you that I have finished recording most of the guitars for the two ‘collections’ that David wrote, and the songs are incredible! They’re not completely finished and they already contain some of my favorite tracks in the catalogue!”

David: “Edward has done a masterful job of performing on these tracks. I think these albums will showcase some of his finest playing ever! There is a whole lot of guitar playing on these albums. This time, instead of orchestrating everything with various strings and organs and such, we have the guitar playing all the intricate harmonies that the piano plays, and together with just the piano and the guitars, the whole sonic scope of the progressions is clear and the music wails into life.”

Edmund: Excellent! OK moving back on to the current moment and what you will shortly release, please tell me more about the three reissues, and more about these Spectral Vintage Sessions, this new Ghost Harvest bonus CD. What does the title mean for starters and what can we expect to hear on it?

Edward: “It is ripping! It is emotional and highly charged and everything kicks ass! It’s heavy, it’s energetic, has dark moments. It’s got metal, hard rock and blues type sections, and that classical gothic element that makes a Virgin Steele album a Virgin Steele album. But it reveals another side to the VS sound. I always loved bands like QUEEN or LED ZEPPELIN, where every album was different and they kept unfolding more and more of their various sides to their audience as time progressed, and I feel that we have been able to do this with our albums, and this is yet another view. You will still absolutely hear that it is Virgin Steele, but you will come away with even more of the impression that there are still more strings to our bow.”

Edmund: But you did add more with the almost 80 minute new Ghost Harvest (The Spectral Vintage Sessions) bonus CD to be included in Invictus! Please tell me something about the tracks on that.

David: “OK. I am ready now. Regarding the question you asked me before, the title refers to the way in which it was captured. I mentioned earlier that while sorting out bonus tracks for all three reissues, we went off on this tangent, and quickly discovered that if we kept on going down this path that we would have a large album’s worth of material. Since the music was coming together so quickly we decided to go for it and see things through to their conclusion and this is the result of our long, hot summer. These songs are a harvest…a collection of spectral moods, or ghosts that were born, died or unearthed during these past few months. Under the influence of various ‘spirits’, both corporeal, and metaphysical, liquid, vegetable, animal or mineral, we managed to conjure these 19 tracks into being.

The album starts off with a section I call the ‘Samhain Suite’ which is a medley, and features various tracks of an All Hallows Eve type of nature, including the theme from John Carpenter’s movie Halloween. Also included in this suite is DOA by BLOODROCK, the song, ‘Black Sabbath’ by BLACK SABBATH, the ‘Immigrant Song’ by LED ZEPPELIN and ‘The Witch In The Forest’, which is a classical piece by the 20th century composer VLADIMIR REBIKOV. Josh plays some wicked 8-string guitar on here and Edward wails as always. While I do understand why our label wants to wait until February to release all these works we are discussing, I am impatient to have them out. I really wanted them out by October to co-inside with the holiday…but unfortunately it is not to be. However, we do hope to have a pre-release video of something from this Suite or if not that, then one of the other tracks, ready to go for some time next month. We do want to preview some of the material in video form well in advance of the releases.”

To read the rest of the interview visit Virgin-Steele.com.