Guardians of the Flame (album)

Last updated
Guardians of the Flame
Virgin Steele guardians of the flame.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 1983
Recorded1983
StudioSonic Sound Studios, Freeport, New York
Genre Heavy metal
Length41:38
Label Music for Nations (UK)
Roadrunner (Europe)
Mongol Horde (US)
King (Japan)
Producer David DeFeis
Virgin Steele chronology
Virgin Steele
(1982)
Guardians of the Flame
(1983)
Wait for the Night
(1983)
2002 edition CD cover
Virgin Steele guardians 2002.jpg
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 6/10 [2]
ImperiumiStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Metal Forces 8/10 [4]

Guardians of the Flame is the second album from New York power metal band Virgin Steele, released in 1983 by Music for Nations. Sanctuary reissued the album in 2002 with songs previously released in the EP Wait for the Night , a live recording, and an interview with the band. [5]

Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contrast with the heaviness and dissonance prevalent for example in extreme metal. Power metal bands usually have anthem-like songs with fantasy-based subject matter and strong choruses, thus creating a theatrical, dramatic and emotionally "powerful" sound. The term was first used in the middle of the 1980s and refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a later more widespread and popular style based in Europe, South America and Japan, with a lighter, more melodic sound and frequent use of keyboards.

Virgin Steele American band

Virgin Steele is an American heavy metal band from New York City, originally formed in 1981.

Music for Nations is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. It was a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG and later Sony Music Entertainment.

Contents

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Don't Say Goodbye (Tonight)" (David DeFeis) - 4:23
  2. "Burn the Sun" (Jack Starr) - 4:24
  3. "Life of Crime" (Starr) - 4:40
  4. "The Redeemer" (DeFeis, Starr) - 7:05
Side two
  1. "Birth Through Fire" (instrumental) (DeFeis) - 0:40
  2. "Guardians of the Flame" (DeFeis, Starr) - 6:45
  3. "Metal City" (Starr) - 4:12
  4. "Hell or High Water" (Starr) - 3:17
  5. "Go All the Way" (Starr) - 3:11
  6. "A Cry in the Night" (DeFeis) - 4:05

2002 CD reissue 2002 bonus tracks

  1. "I Am the One" (DeFeis, Starr) - 3:47
  2. "Go Down Fighting" (Starr) - 3:30
  3. "Wait for the Night" (Starr) - 4:19
  4. "Interview" (DeFeis) - 6:42
  5. "Blues Deluxe Oreganata (I Might Drown)" (live) (DeFeis, Edward Pursino) - 6:13

Personnel

Virgin Steele

David DeFeis American musician

David DeFeis is an American singer, keyboard player, songwriter and producer. He is the main composer and leader of the heavy metal band Virgin Steele.

Keyboard instrument class of musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, which are usually housed in bell towers or belfries of churches or municipal buildings.

Jack Starr Rock-blues guitarist

Jack Starr is a heavy metal and blues guitarist and songwriter born of a French mother and American father. He learned to play guitar by ear, copying the riffs of R&B records. His first semi-professional band was Les Variations in France with future members of Trust. In the U.S. Starr emerged on the rock and metal scene in 1981, forming, together with Joey Ayvazian, David DeFeis and Joe O’Rielly, the first incarnation of the heavy metal band Virgin Steele. The new band was selected in 1982 by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records to appear on the label's compilation album U.S. Metal Volume 2. The song Starr sent in for the compilation was "Children of the Storm". After only two albums, Virgin Steele of 1981 and Guardians of the Flame of 1982, Starr left Virgin Steele in 1983 because of musical differences with the band’s front man and other main songwriter David DeFeis.

Production

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References

  1. Henderson, Alex. "Virgin Steele Guardians of the Flame review". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved 2011-07-12.
  2. Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 399. ISBN   978-1894959315.
  3. Timo-Janne Kokko (2003-01-15). "Levyarviot: Virgin Steele - Guardians of the Flame". Imperiumi. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
  4. Ling, David (August 1983). "Virgin Steele - Guardians of the Flame". Metal Forces (1): 20. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  5. "Virgin Steele - Guardians of the Flame". Metal-Archives.com. Retrieved 2010-04-05.