review by: Jez Andrews

Virgin Steele may have once been the cream of the crop in the power metal scene, but to be perfectly honest, their songs now sound so tired that they have fallen asleep behind the wheel. They are one of those unlucky bands who have strayed too far on to the boring side of cheese to sound inspiring at all, despite their years of experience. Vocalist David DeFeis doesn't do half the job of Halford or Dickinson, and the keyboards and backing vocals only serve to dilute the guitars and give the whole affair a Meatloaf flavour.

Hymns to Victory and The Book of Burning are a twin release, comprised of remastered and revamped versions of old songs, as well as some brand new tracks. And it's all distinctly fecal in nature. The gentle ballads amongst the two CDs, such as "The Spirit of Steele," "The Mists of Avalon" and an acoustic rendition of "A Cry in the Night" were neither beautiful nor moving (unless you count the movement of my breakfast). As for the heavier and faster material, well, Iced Earth and Grave Digger, to name but a couple, could have done the job with ten times the panache, and the less said of the occasional cock rock influence the better. Bag of shit. Case Closed.