Virgin Steele - Visions Of Eden (2006)

Subtitled "The Lilith Project - A Barbaric Romantic Movie Of The Mind", this is Virgin Steele's first album in six years, and as if to make up for lost time, is eighty minutes long as it tells the grim tale of some kind of battle that starts in the Garden of Eden, when God creates Adam and Eve, and Adam then gets a second wife, the less pure Lilith, who seems to be befriended by the Devil, or something similar.
As usual, this is very much Dave DeFies, as he wrote it, produced it and performed much of the instrumentation.  His snarling/singing (when he does sing, DeFies has quite a deft, sometimes almost gentle voice) is also used for all the different roles in the drama, rather than inviting other singers along, and he is as professional as always.
However, the rock side of this is curiously muted at times - the guitars are certainly not very prominent, and the record can't help but drag in places. And yet it also can't help but be impressive overall, and such songs as the opening "Immortal I Stand (The Birth Of Adam)", "Bonedust" and "Childslayer" deserve to be seen amongst the better tracks from Virgin Steele's catalogue.
I can't say I care for the subject matter, and these really long albums are not easy to get into, and yet I surprise myself with how well I can get swept away by them sometimes. Such is the case with Visions Of Eden.  It's a flawed, but skilled piece of work from someone who just knows how to do this kind of thing.

***1/2