Age Of Consent is with no doubt one of the most atmospheric and thrilling releases in my collection. Anyone who knows me also knows that
Virgin Steele is my all time favourite band and that every release by the band is considered something really special. But that should not keep me from making a fair review, as always ha ha.
The opener
The Burning Of Rome is a true masterpiece and one of the best songs in Metal history, great symphonic arrangements, fantastic emotion filled lyrics, great powerful guitar riffs and lot of passion. These elements go throughout the album as a thin red line, and the musicians perform with great ability. The guitar solo/keyboard midsection comes out extremely melodic and shows just how good musicians the band consists of, a true epic.
The fast and powerful
Let It Roar features a highly interesting outro, suddenly as you think the song is over, a calm acoustic rhythm guitar guides the song to rest. A typical
Virgin Steele moment, that adds to the feeling that each song has more to offer than its basic layer.
Lion In Winter is classic
Virgin Steele song, a powerful riff and a fantastic underlying atmosphere works in great harmony. The extensive solo is also a great aspect; Edward plays some of his best stuff on this release.
The song is nicely surrounded by a short piano/keyboard intro and outro. These short tracks works fantastic with the main song, the arrangements by David are extraordinary, the way he combines an atmospheric keyboard and the melody making piano is a
Virgin Steele trademark, I get into a very relaxed mood when I hear these genius short creations.
The chorus driven, up-tempo song
On The Wings Of The Night, shows a more direct side of the band. The song is clearly one of my favourites. The chorus is very catchy and the overall feeling of romantic emotions and young boundless energy is just great. The emotions this man lays into the vocals and the special feeling of the lyrics, combined with his fantastic technical skills, makes him the greatest singer of all time in my book.
Chains Of Fire also has a more simple form than some of the more epic songs; this nice mix of styles blends nicely together. The bass really grooves at high speed on this one. The short track hasn't the great complex passages or changing sections that otherwise are central in so many of the songs, a very good song anyway though, packed with energy.
Cry Forever is one of the greatest and most passionate ballads that I have ever heard. The totally fantastic and huge chorus is sung in a way that creates just the right mood. The song gives me a very special feeling and lyrics and music melts to one in a perfect connection.
Words cannot describe just how great a song this is; it must be heard and felt.
The extremely atmospheric
We Are Eternal ends the record in majestic fashion. I very much like the drums in this song, when carefully listening there are some great detailed parts to discover.
The hymn-like chorus is central to the song and works nicely with the calm mood. There exists an epic glow in this song, and at the end of the record I'm left with a relaxed and clam feeling of delight.
Lyrically the themes are much about love, strong passionate emotions and problems, spirituality and human strength. They are nicely composed and brings the songs just the right ingredient.
The sound is, with the time of recording taking into account, very good. All instruments are fitted nicely into a powerful and special-sounding whole. The bass could have been turned up a bit though.
The album contains all the elements I would like to find on a Heavy Metal CD played with tons of energy and passion. Symphonic keyboards and piano parts, fantastic guitar solos, pumping bass parts and varied drums.
The only critique I seem to can come up with is that some songs aren't as genius as others, there a couple of choruses that appears a bit on the simple side (
Let It Roar,
Chains Of Fire), but they still work fine considered the style of the song they appear in. When you have to come up with such thin critical remarks, I guess I simply just have to conclude that this rightfully is a work of special skill and great musical composition.
The re-release of the record features 3 other great
Virgin Steele tracks (
Perfect Mansions rules with its hymn-like atmosphere) and a cover song. The rating is based on the original songs, but the extra tracks just seem to add to the overall high quality of this fantastic release.
There is nothing but good things to say about the overall standard of this release, it contains some pure classics and a unique surrounding mood.
Written by
Tommy Monday, September 16, 2002
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