The Book of Burning

The result of a pissing match between long-gone founding member Jack Starr and current Virgin Steele leader and co-founder David Defeis, The Book of Burning is a bad compromise. An attempt to reissue the first two Virgin Steele LPs (Virgin Steele and Guardians of the Flame) and the EP A Cry in the Night turned into a nightmare, so Defeis took it upon himself to have his current band re-record eight classics from that period in addition to the same number of new tracks, some of which Starr and he wrote together during a reunion in 1997 but never recorded. As usual with such a spiteful situation, no matter who is right, the fans lose. As a result, those records remain vinyl rarities and The Book of Burning only serves as a disappointing reminder of band politics gone sour.