Noble Savage was kind of a new beginning for Virgin Steele, with new axe-man Edward Pursino entering the band with great ideas and his special playing style.
A more symphonic and challenging approach was gone for, without loosing touch with the melodic and simpler rocking elements.
We Rule The Night is a fast hymn in the classic VS tradition, great chorus and lots of energy.
Already here you can feel the bombastic vibe that shines with full force on many of these tracks, and check out that bass performance, immensely vibrating and totally genius.
I'm On Fire rocks hard with a solid basic rhythm and a driving but not that thrilling chorus line.
The detailed drums being a cool element and in general this is a quite good direct track.
Thy Kingdom Come is one of my all time VS classics, an astonishing and breathtaking experience. The lyric is one of the most important to me personally, about finding inner strength to realise you hopes and dreams in dark times. The epic chorus is simply beautiful and what a divine and emotional voice, the ending keyboard sequence creating a unique and sedative atmosphere.
Image Of A Faun At Twilight is a short captivating instrumental piece that set a suiting stage for
Noble Savage. Another classic with lots of drama and a nerve-filled chorus that brings your inner beast to life in the most vigorous way. The harmonious guitar solo fits in extremely well and the huge epic-ending scene is just magical.
Am aggressive and "in the flesh" direction is perused with the bass monster
Fight Tooth And Nail.
A more simple but successful cut gaining a lot by the fast and piercing guitar solo.
The Evil In Her Eyes is driven forth by a quite dark guitar riff enhancing the overall creepy mood. The song is a quite dynamic mid-tempo track with some great high pitch vocals and thrilling guitar lead passages.
As the title suggests
Rock Me has a cool catchy rocking profile with a rather straight rhythm, grooving along in a smooth manner. Ok the chorus could have been more exciting but overall a good and party-type track.
The ballad
Don't Close Your Eyes Tonight is one of the best cuts on this disc. Great heartfelt vocals and atmospheric acoustic guitar rhythms start things off. The underlying keys give extra fundament to it and the melodic solo and emotional chorus are other fantastic elements.
The Angel Of Light is a 7-minute epic with a complex and mythological lyric and some fantastic atmospheric keyboard and dramatic piano elements. An astonishing song with many changing elements and shifts in pace. One of the things that impress me the most is ingenious way the different parts are melted together into a most thrilling masterpiece.
The production is extremely clear, forceful and balanced on this re-released/re-mastered version and the bonus tracks only add to the overall positive impression. All being good songs and some quite fantastic, the rating being based on the actual album though.
I have always thought that the lyrical aspect was an extremely important element in the music of Virgin Steele; Noble Savage has some interesting words to offer. Themes like love, passion and finding inner strength are presented in a remarkable and captivating language.
Another thing that makes this album fantastic is the musical performance, this is not only a firm and precise execution of music, all musicians put their special mark on the release. The bass is innovative and very central, the riffs are packed with a certain forceful drive, the solos spark with intensity, the drums are immensely well played and varied and David DeFeis sings with a fabulous blend of softness and profound power.
This album has all the elements it takes to make a diverse and highly interesting release; fast technical tracks, long atmospheric epics, party rockers with drive and slow emotion-filled songs with great melodies.
Written by
Tommy Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 8.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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