Virgin Steele - Marriage of Heaven and Hell II

Needless to say, this is the second part of what will wind up being a trilogy based around a somewhat uneven concept of Endyamon, Emalaith, and their struggle against the tyrannical gods. I say uneven because unlike Part 3 (1998's 'Invictus'), the first two parts have a tendency to break up the concept half-way through, both lyrically and musically, thus creating something of an uneven feel as mentioned. Despite this, Marriage pt. 1 had one certain strength going for it - concept problem aside, it was one of the most consistent albums I have EVER heard; unfortunately it is this very element, or lack thereof, which brings Part 2 down a notch. Keep in mind though that this IS Virgin Steele, so it's only a very minor notch...

For those unfamiliar with VS's music, it is often described with the tag of symphonic blues-based metal. Despite this seemingly outlandish description, mainly the 'blues' part, it's actually surprisingly accurate - the band's riffs often have a tendency to be on the bluesy side, all the while maintaining their epic, grandiose appeal. Which brings me to point number two about the music - Virgin Steele is responsible for creating some of the most unbelievably powerful epic-style tracks, and the album is no exception in this department. In fact, it may be slight overkill of said strength that subtracts from the disc as well, but...I won't throw stones where they need not be thrown.

Furthermore in terms of the band - excellent vocals for one - mainman David DeFeis does have a very unnerving tendency to shriek every once in a while, or worse yet, display a very flawed falsetto, but otherwise his voice is one of the band's myriad of strong points. Think a deeper, raspier, more free-flowing version of Eric Adams (of Manowar fame of course) with perhaps a pinch of Graham Bonnett, and you can get an idea of what sort of voice will be accompanying the music. And speaking of the musical side of matters - guitarwork is utmost solid, somewhat in the Chris DeGarmo style, if such a style exists; basically, as long as you're not expecting some sort of superhuman Malmsteen-like shredding or something to that extent, you won't be disappointed. As well, DeFeis lays down some incredible piano work which serves a lot of purposes - emotion, extra dosage of melody, progressive aspect of the band, that aforementioned blues thing, etc.

Now then, the songs. As I have mentioned before, VS strives off making powerful, epic tracks, so if you're expecting more "Last Supper"s, "Trail of Tears"s, "Noble Savage"s, "Angel of Light"s, etc. (er...those were some random epic tracks I picked out from the back catalogue of the band), brace yourself. Opener "Symphony of Steele" starts with bluesy keyboard meanderings (meant in the best possible way of course) before diving into a piledriving, ultra-bombastic verse and refrain. "Crown of Glory" starts things off with a strong, Maiden-esque gallop before switching to an extremely powerful melodic/emotional break towards the middle of the track...pure Virgin Steele. "Rising Unchained" has a mystic, stalking verse going for it, but it's the two LONG songs of the disc, "Prometheus the Fallen One" and "Emalaith", which manage to steal the show altogether. And...they're back to back. "Prometheus" shares an almost AoR-ish feel with some middle eastern vibes before diving into yet another break towards the middle (a slow-down section ranking among some of VS's best ever), whereas Emalaith picks up the pace early on by introducing an oft-employed, concept-based musical theme of the band, which is kept all the way through. A phenomenally well-flowing track with a truly excellent vocal performance, courtesy DeFeis.

There's a good deal more here, no doubt about it. "Transfiguration" is a slower, bluesy rocker, VERY much reminiscent of "Self Crucifixion" from MoH&H pt. 1. "From Chaos to Creation" is a terrific instrumental introduction to "Twilight of the Gods", a triumphant power-metal hymn. "Strawgirl" is a fine Savatage-like ballad, "Unholy Water" is a catchy AoR style cut, and the disc ends off strong with "Marriage of Heaven and Hell Revisited", a shorter, more guitar oriented version of "Marriage of Heaven & Hell", the instrumental which ended off MoH&H pt. 1.

Now then...reading this, you might think exactly what is the problem? After all, a bunch of epic, power/progressive metal tracks...over an hour of music...should be pure ecstasy. Well, in a way, yes and no. True, all those things are very much present on the disc; it's just that unlike Marriage pt. 1 where even despite the holes in the concept, all songs flowed in utmost union, one after the other, the songs here seemed to have been just randomly placed without any thought to any particular order or such. It may not seem like much, but I guess pt. 1 was a bit of a spoiler in this department. There's also the matter of "Devil/Angel", a track which simply could not belong any less in the selection than it does - it's a fast, utterly forgettable song in the vein of, oh, Deep Purple perhaps and...the only question I can think of is why the hell is it on here?! Barely qualifies as a bonus track, but then don't those come at the end of an album anyway?