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     In the case of Virgin Steele, that final category will probably be the only reason people pick up the group's re-mastered Guardians Of The Flame album. While yes, there are bonus liner notes, artwork and tracks (five of them in fact), how many metalheads have been sitting alone in darkened rooms, wrapped in black spandex pants, pining for the day when they could pick up Virgin Steele again? According to their own press, the group decided to re-master their album because of its rarity nowadays. They claimed that the original vinyl pressing of the release goes for a couple of hundred bucks, yet a quick search on e-bay found copies for less than $10...
     Guardians Of The Flame was Virgin Steele's second album, and was 10 tracks of pure cliché hair metal originally released in 1983. The music conjures up an image of a pair of spandex-clad, poodle-haired guitarists doing the back-and-forth sway while a leather-bound lead singer wails with a fist in the air. In its day, this music was probably popular but 20 years later, it is just ridiculous. History has found other groups that made larger impacts upon the same scene (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc.) while playing better music than this.
     However, if you are among the loyal mulleted Virgin Steele fans, you should enjoy hearing their 'classics' re-mastered and on cd. And, you would also appreciate Virgin Steele's re-mastered debut album, Virgin Steele I. It contains four bonus tracks of re-mastered mixes as well as extra artwork.

	VIRGIN STEELE VIRGIN STEELE II: GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME SANCTUARY RECORDS	LINKS: virgin-steele.com
	When big time names like the Beatles, the Doors or Hendrix release a re-mastered album, thousands upon thousands of fans perk up and purchase them. Reasons range from bonus tracks or artwork, an improvement in the overall sound from the original recording, or just because they are neurotic packrat fans.
In the case of Virgin Steele, that final category will probably be the only reason people pick up the group's re-mastered Guardians Of The Flame album. While yes, there are bonus liner notes, artwork and tracks (five of them in fact), how many metalheads have been sitting alone in darkened rooms, wrapped in black spandex pants, pining for the day when they could pick up Virgin Steele again? According to their own press, the group decided to re-master their album because of its rarity nowadays. They claimed that the original vinyl pressing of the release goes for a couple of hundred bucks, yet a quick search on e-bay found copies for less than $10... Guardians Of The Flame was Virgin Steele's second album, and was 10 tracks of pure cliché hair metal originally released in 1983. The music conjures up an image of a pair of spandex-clad, poodle-haired guitarists doing the back-and-forth sway while a leather-bound lead singer wails with a fist in the air. In its day, this music was probably popular but 20 years later, it is just ridiculous. History has found other groups that made larger impacts upon the same scene (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc.) while playing better music than this. However, if you are among the loyal mulleted Virgin Steele fans, you should enjoy hearing their 'classics' re-mastered and on cd. And, you would also appreciate Virgin Steele's re-mastered debut album, Virgin Steele I. It contains four bonus tracks of re-mastered mixes as well as extra artwork.
----Scott Olivenbaum