Virgin Steele : Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation

[Everflow]

Le nouvel album devrait sortir à la fin de l'année, sachant que David DeFeis travaille sur les 3 prochains albums simultanément, dont les 2 premiers seront conceptuels.

U.S. power metallers VIRGIN STEELE are recording their new album for a tentatively late 2012 release. According to vocalist David DeFeis, the band is also recording the various bonus tracks that will be made available with the upcoming reissues of the group's catalog. David says, "We are really working on what will be the next three albums, because there are quite a lot of songs. We are trying to capture everything as the inspiration comes. As regards what the new album will be all about, I prefer to wait a bit to give you more information, as I am still writing, and I am waiting to see how the latest music develops. Once I know exactly what tracks it will contain, I will then be in a better position to describe it to you. But I can tell you that at the moment there are three different… let's call them 'song cycles' or song collections. Two of them could be conceived as conceptual, while the third consists of separate unrelated material. We are essentially trying to record everything before committing completely to what we will release first. It will all come out… it's just a question of what will be first."

[Mc Brain]

Tant qu'il ne travaille pas sur un nouveau clip, tout va bien!

[Achille]

Quel héros ce David DeFeis! J'ai hâte d'entendre ça. J'avoue que le précédent était sympa mais m'avait laissé un peu sur ma faim...

[Hellion]

Pfff j'en suis même a me demander si j'ai hâte d’écouter ça...
je l'ai a peine écouté le dernier...

[Everflow]

Pour tout savoir sur les travaux en cours (2 nouveaux albums, coffret, rééditions), une interview de DeFeis ici :

http://www.virgin-steele.com/news.html

Mais toujours pas de date précise pour tout ça, enfin il parle bien d'octobre, mais comme d'hab c'est flou...

On apprend aussi qu'il a fait une apparition dans le film danois "Songs For Alexis".

[Hellion]

Donc, dans l'immediat Marriage 1et 2 et Invictus viennent de ressortir en double digipack là...

Avec :
- 1 bonus track et 2 live (qualité pas gégé mais ça fait toujours plaisir...) pour les mariage
- et un 2em cd pour invictus avec des titres en version acoustique et 1 nouveau titre !

On peut écouter ca sur Spotify !

[Achille]

Cela fera comme pour les deux derniers albums : du jour au lendemain on va avoir l'agréable surprise de voir une pochette inconnue de Virgin Steele dans les bacs, cela voudra dire qu'il a sorti son nouvel album

[Mr. Sandman]

Le nouvel album devrait sortir entre février et mars 2015...

SPV/Steamhammer is proud to announce a new Virgin Steele studio album for February/March 2015 . This will be the first full length album with brand new songs since The Black Light Bacchanalia which was released in 2010.

David DeFeis describes the new album: "....it is a very heavy non-concept type album in the vein of something like a Noble Savage or an Age Of Consent, where there is no particular "story" that one has to follow...it is instead a straightforward collection of songs that work well together. It is about 80-90% tracked already, and final mixing will begin next month! I know that we announced a box-set was to be issued this autumn, which in addition to two more re-issues, would also have included a new bonus album called Ghost Harvest, (which by the way is finished and ready to go)....but... the group and I and our label all feel that the time is right now first for some brand new US metal in the style that Virgin Steele deliver, therefore the new album is now our focus but...fear not...the previously discussed box set will be released later next year, most likely a short time after we issue the brand new release that we are currently completing. And for those who were asking...yes... the new album does have a title and I will reveal it in the weeks ahead....With these new recordings we have gone back to some earlier methods of recording such as using analog tape, and the whole thing sounds and feels very organic. To conclude...the group and I are really happy with the new material and we are sure that all the Fans who waited so long will be more than pleased!"

[Cardinal-Sin]

Cela fera comme pour les deux derniers albums : du jour au lendemain on va avoir l'agréable surprise de voir une pochette inconnue de Virgin Steele dans les bacs, cela voudra dire qu'il a sorti son nouvel album

ou réédité une vieux disques avec une nouvelles pochettes

[Everflow]

Quand je relis la news d'origine de ce topic, je me demande si on peut vraiment leur faire confiance sur une date de sortie.

En tout cas ça fera pas de mal d'avoir un album non conceptuel pour une fois.

[Everflow]

Plus d'infos sur l'album dans cette interview, ainsi que le contenu du coffret (dont un album "bonus") à sortir l'an prochain :

VIRGIN STEELE has set "Hymns To Damnation" as the title of its new album, due in March/April 2015 via SPV/Steamhammer.

Comments VIRGIN STEELE singer David DeFeis: "The new album is a roaring collection of metal tracks that work very well together and were recorded in a very straightforward, organic manner. It is full of passion, power, blood, fire, love, lust, death and drama."

An interview with David about the new VIRGIN STEELE album:

Q: So the title of the new VIRGIN STEELE album is going to be "Hymns To Damnation". Where does that title come from?

DeFeis: Well…There actually is a song on the album with that title, and even though this album is not really a concept album, recently when I took a careful look back at all the lyrics, I found that a lot of the lyrics do deal with relationship issues and all the various ways in which humans can entangle themselves, or destroy themselves… so the title essentially encompasses what the vibe of the whole work is about. The title expresses the album in the way that the title "Noble Savage" or "Age Of Consent" expressed each of those particular works. The title provides a framework and perhaps connective tissue, but each song is really its own thing. As I said it isn't a concept album, but there is a certain kind of connection regardless.

Q: Musically, what can we expect for that song as well as the whole album?

DeFeis: That particular song is definitely barbaric-romantic…it is full of pathos, and has both the tender dark side of what we do, along with that over the top bombastic heaviness that we are about. And…well… to go along with the kinds of lyrics I just mentioned, the music is definitely heavy… dark… at times melancholy, and also aggressive or angry sounding, and alternately raw and grandiose. The overarching theme that comes to mind when I think about the album or listen to it is passion…raw passion. There are big monolithic riffs, moody chord changes, "classical"-type bits. It retains the VIRGIN STEELE signature, but it adds new dimensions to it.

Q: Lyrically, is it a completely negative trip?

DeFeis: No, not at all. There are tracks that celebrate life and lust and the beauty of the full experience of what one goes through in their time on the planet. It is empowering and it also has a sense of humor. The lyrics should make you think a bit… I hope. And as regards what I just said a moment ago about relationships, the album mainly concerns connections, connections between all sorts of beings and by that I don't only mean worldly human beings… but also gods and goddesses, spirits, elements, or whatever, plus various creatures, animal, vegetable and or mineral, but largely it is about connections between people. People and their belief systems, people and their gods or goddesses…people and their life philosophies and also the various substances we invest or inject into our daily or nightly rituals and our worldview, and all the complexities of what drives us, makes us who we are and takes us where we may… or may not be going.

Q: That sounds epic! Awhile back I know you had mentioned another song recorded for the album called "Lucifer's Hammer". What is that one like?

DeFeis: Well… It is not necessarily about Lucifer, or hammers! It is a really aggressive song that opens the album, and starts everything off in high gear. It is both raw and "classical"-sounding at the same time. It's very high energy, very kick-ass!

Q: Well, then what do the lyrics for that song concern?

DeFeis: It can be viewed from several different angles, as that is a feature of how I write songs, but you, my friend, would probably say that it is about drugs…

Q: Pro or con?

DeFeis: That would depend on one's own perspective and proclivities.

Q: Do you have anything else planned for 2015?

DeFeis: Yes, about 7 months after the new album comes out, we will finally issue the box set that I discussed a whole lot over the past year.

Q: What will be in that box set?

DeFeis: It will contain the re-issues of both "The Book Of Burning" and "Hymns To Victory", and finally the bonus new work, "Ghost Harvest (The Spectral Vintage Sessions)". We hope to have that package out in October. It has already been discussed between the label and I and it is a go. That "Ghost Harvest" bonus album has new material, plus rewritten and rearranged covers of various things we like or rehearse from time to time.

Q: Great! I am looking forward to the new "Hymns To Damnation" album and then later the box-set. In all the re-issues you did over the past two years you managed to put in tons of bonus material, and the recently reissued "Invictus" CD has an almost 60-minute bonus album called "Fire Spirits", featuring acoustic versions of some VIRGIN STEELE classics, as well as some new material. How do you manage to make all that come together?

DeFeis: I am glad you noticed. Not everyone does. Yes, we have tried to make each reissue as special as we can, and we have gone out of our way to add as much as possible. That particular "Fire Spirits" album came about because I wanted to add something that was intense but unlike the actual "Invictus" album…and we began recording live and really liking what we were hearing back, so we thought, why not?… Those tracks have the intensity of the full band and the listener can get a sense of the interplay between the voice and the instruments, and also a sense of the ingredients of the songs… what makes them tick. We are always working, so there is always material, and I am happy to unleash it in whatever form it takes… hence… all these extra tracks on the reissues.

Q: Getting back to "Hymns To Damnation", how long is that album going to be?

DeFeis: I am not quite sure yet, as we are still deciding on which tracks will ultimately end up being included on there. It will be fairly long, but probably not necessarily 80 minutes. We shall see. Check back with me in a few weeks.

Q: And a last question, David, about the studio methods. I know you mentioned that you went back to some earlier styles of recording. What did you mean by that?

DeFeis: I meant that we started using some of the original analog gear that we used to use, and we even did some things on analog tape. I think it has made the album, as I said earlier, more natural- or organic-sounding. It has that classic "we recorded it live in a large room" kind of sound that we really like. It has been nice to approach the album this way, and we think that it really suits the material.

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/virgin ... uyIjcul.99

[Mr. Sandman]

Le titre de l'album a changé, il s'appelle désormais "Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation" et devrait sortir le 22 juin.

Il aura 3 visuels différents (en fonction des formats) :


(2LP)


(2CD digipack)


(version CD standard)

[Yathin Lizzy]

La première pochette pour les fans de Grave Digger, la seconde pour les fans d'Angel Dust, et la dernière pour ceux de... Raymond Barre et la Vache qui rit.....

[Everflow]

DeFeis dit (plus ou moins) que ça s'inscrit dans la lignée de Noble Savage (sans les titres hard US), bon j'y crois partiellement mais ça serait sympa qu'il dise vrai.

Comments VIRGIN STEELE singer David DeFeis: "Our new album, which is called 'Nocturnes Of Hellfire & Damnation', is not a concept album per se, but there is a through line that connects the tracks. The lyrics essentially deal with relationship issues, and by that I mean the connections between entities, as in all sorts of beings, not only human being, but also gods and goddesses, spirits, elements, or whatever, plus various creatures, animal, vegetable and or mineral, but largely the album is about connections between people. People and their belief systems, people and their gods or goddesses, people and their life philosophies and also the various substances we invest or inject into our daily or nightly rituals and our worldview, and all the complexities of what drives us, makes us who we are and takes us where we may or may not be going.

"To sum it up, this album is about all the various ways in which humans can entangle themselves, or destroy themselves, so the album's title essentially encompasses what the vibe of the whole work is about.

"The title relates to the album in the way that the title 'Noble Savage' or 'Age Of Consent' expressed each of those particular works. The title provides a framework and connective tissue, but each song is really its own thing.

"Musically, the album is pretty heavy, high energy, often dark, at turns melancholy, and at turns aggressive or angry sounding. It does have that over-the-top bombastic heaviness that we are about, and the whole barbaric-romantic thing that we are known for.

"The overarching theme that comes to mind when I think about the album or listen to it is passion… raw passion. There are big monolithic riffs, moody chord changes, 'classical' type bits, sort of bluesy moments.... It retains the VIRGIN STEELE signature, but it adds new dimensions to it. In a strange way, it 'feels' to me like it could have been the album we might have made to follow up 'Noble Savage' had I been able to devote all my energies into the more bombastic or progressive side of my musical nature at that time, rather than trying to appease some of the other 'factions' around me who wanted some kind of a 'hit'...whatever that meant at the time.

"So, to conclude, we have infused the recordings with all that we have gone through over these past months, every fiber of our being, and I think this album will be something our fans will really enjoy."

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/virgin ... HblWxpS.99

[Yathin Lizzy]

J'ai toujours autant peur pour la qualité des titres que pour la production avec eux.
Les derniers trucs qu'ils ont remixé ou réenregistrés pour leurs rééditions sonnaient assez froids...

[Everflow]

La dernière production de "qualité" remonte à House of Atreus Part 1 pour moi (le 2 avait une boîte à rythme), c'est vrai que ça date et qu'on aimerait entendre du Virgin Steele sonner plus organique.

[Yama]

La prod, bon... Il y a surtout eu une baisse régulière de la qualité d'écriture, on peut toujours espérer qu'il retrouve un peu la flamme (ha ha).

[wazbones]

La dernière production de "qualité" remonte à House of Atreus Part 1 pour moi (le 2 avait une boîte à rythme), c'est vrai que ça date et qu'on aimerait entendre du Virgin Steele sonner plus organique.

Je suis parfaitement d'accord : c'est le vrai problème de ce groupe depuis quelques années... Cependant, au niveau des combos, j'avais vraiment bien aimé "Vision of eden", et moins le dernier qui n'en était qu'une pale copie. Mais comme à chaque nouvelle sortie, confiant je suis !

[Cardinal-Sin]

j'espère surtout que Pursino s'impliquera plus sur cet album, la prod c'est une chose... mais c'est surtout les guitares trop en retrait et l'absence de bons riffs qui m'ennuie le plus sur les derniers albums...

[Mr. Sandman]

Cette sensualité vocale.
(Surtout au début.)

[Cardinal-Sin]

c'est quand même un peu timide niveau guitare... mais on va pas bouder son plaisir .
(j'ai quand même un peu l'impression d'entendre un Through Blood And Fire en moins inspiré)

[Yathin Lizzy]

J espère juste que ce ne soit pas un titre cache misère. .. genre le seul mid/up tempo du disque noyé dans la guimauve épique.
J'ai appris à être déçu depuis un moment avec ce groupe. ..

[Cruchot jr]

C'est le titre d'ouverture de l'album... Rien de spectaculaire ! Le groupe nous avait habitué à des départs bien plus sensationnels ! Ça ne m'emballe guère, que ce soit la musique, son ambiance, et même la performance de DeFeis. Je trouverai le courage d'écouter l'album... dans quelques mois.

N.B. : l'album contiendra deux morceaux de Exorcist : Queen of the dead et Black mass...!

[Mr. Sandman]

'Queen of the Dead' en écoute :

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=ht ... isual=true

[Yathin Lizzy]

Globalement ça s'annonce bien mieux que les dernières productions en date.
En tout cas pour ces deux titres.