THE HOUSE OF ATREUS ACT I - ALBUM INFOS

The House Of Atreus act I

Released 1999 On Noise/T&T

Lyrics

Track listing:Kingdom Of The Fearless (The Destruction Of Troy) - Blaze Of Victory (The Watchman's Song) - Through The Ring Of Fire - Prelude In A Minor (The Voyage Home) - Death Darkly Closed Their Eyes (The Messenger's Song) - In Triumph Or Tragedy - Return Of The King - Flames Of The Black Star (The Arrows Of Herakles) - Narcissus - And Hecate Smiled - A Song Of Prophecy - Child Of Desolation - G Minor Invention (Descent Into Death's Twilight Kingdom) - Day Of Wrath - Great Sword Of Flame - The Gift Of Tantalus - Agony And Shame - Gate Of Kings - Via Sacra

Agony And Shame, 465 kb

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Review: it's not an everyday job translating into music one western's culture's masterworks, "Orestheia" by Aeschilus... It would be easy to fall into the trap of exaggeration, ignorance etc. that would make the whole thing seem to be done by Manowar or worse Rhapsody. But here we are, speaking about Virgin Steele reaching again their peak after the so-so "Invictus"! The band goes back to the more key-led approach and takes down the forceful aggression of the previous album, creating a bombastic work full of dreamy, gentle and carefully crafted orchestration between enormous key arrangements and solid heavy rock. Of these 22 tracks, half are magnificent instrumental far away from the "twenty minutes to write" classical shit made by today's horrible classic metal acts, and by no means are superflous, just adding more and more atmosfere to the story. All lead by David's sublime vocals, finally giving place to all his vocal range and spectre and not concentrating on ranting only. And the plots unfolds standing true to the original tragedy's spirit (more on this subject later...). Every possible emotion music could be giving you there you have it, in the very first heavy metal opera ever made.

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Line up: David DeFeis (vocals, keyboard, synth bass), Edward Pursino (guitar, bass guitar), Frank Gilchriest (drums).

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