VIRGIN STEELE - Visions Of Eden
November 2, 2006, 18 years ago
(Sanctuary)
The actual title is Visions Of Eden: The Lilith Project – A Barbaric Romantic Movie Of The Mind - quite a mouthful! It’s been more than six years since the last full studio output from mainstay vocalist David Defeis (granted the last package, House Of Atreus, recounted a Greek tragedy and spanned two years and four CDs) and while the music is confined to just 11 lengthy compositions, the storyline is no less ambition (it’s encapsulated within the booklet). Needless to say, the combination of ancient cultures and twists on Biblical teachings will brand Defeis a heretic by religious types, to say nothing of the pro-female stance. Built around his smooth, almost spoken, voice (apart from appropriately placed falsetto scat singing) and keyboards, the music is decidedly more progressive, less traditional power metal. The opening ‘Immortal I Stand (The Birth Of Adam)’ gets the fist pumping. Later ‘The Ineffable Name’ and ‘Black Light On Black’ do the same, albeit in spurts, as neither are full-bore rockers, with plenty of room for experimentation, eclipsing seven minutes. The latter sports particularly vicious lyrics, especially the “Fuck you, Adam. Fuck you, Eve. Fuck your God and his infernal need” chorus! ‘Childslayer’ gets things racing between ‘God Above God’ and ‘When Dusk Fell’, both beginning as acoustic guitar ballads, like something off a TSO record, slow, soft and refined. Overall, a moody 80 minutes.
