Formed way back in 1982 in Erie, Pennsylvania, DAMIEN STEEL sounds like a crossover between early FATES WARNING and QUEENSRYCHE. Its melodic power/progressive metal in a similar vein to both bands. The band was formed between guitarist Steve Matusik and bassist Paul Staub and added Jeff Trott on drums to perform as a three-piece as a mainly covers playing band. They went through many lineup changes until they were able to record their demo in 1990. By then the band was the core of Staub and Matusik - adopting stage last names of "Damien" and "Steele" owing to the name of the band and remaining the core through its lifetime - adding Mike Learn on guitar in 1985, with recent additions of Ben Tomlin on drums and Mark Hopkins as lead vocalist. This would be seen as the "classic" lineup.

This 2020 release is packed with much more than simply that 1990 5 track demo. A 2005 remaster and release saw the demo plus some extra tracks that were also recorded around that time - "Wasteland", "The Last Time (I Sleep with You)", "The Whisper", and "Midnight Rendezvous". But this release pulled out all the stops and past singer Jeff Crock was able to dig up some old recordings from 1983-1985 with him singing and will act as a real treat for long time fans of the band. Though the tracks - "Sword of Vengeance", "R.I.P., and "The Darkside" are quite inferior in quality, they showcase the burgeoning songwriting and passion of the band fairly well.

The music itself is not particularly strong entry in the USPM canon but it's decent. The band is mostly forgotten due to coming so late on the scene but they take many elements from that genre and expand into progressive and melodic metal. Hopkins sounds like a mix between Geoff Tate and Geddy Lee with ear-splitting highs, controlled vibrato and elaborate, fascinating vocal melodies. The release opens with "I am Doorway", with an unusually grammatically incorrect title, a solo that sounds as though he's playing an etude and a weird production problem that gives the guitars a background ring that sounds like that of a tom tom. Not a strong start but "Wasteland" picks up the slack, being not as dragging as the second track, "On the Crest of a Dune". It is the most atmospheric track on the album and has some great melodic leads and vocal lines.

Fortunately, things get better from here. The amazing "Life after Life" borrows heavily from IRON MAIDEN's dual guitar attack, a great wail and delivery from Hopkins and even gives Staub's bass a place to shine and come through in the mix during a fun riff section halfway through. "Dawn" borrows even more by featuring a main riff that sounds similar to a slowed down version of the verse riff of "The Trooper" and an amazing guitar solo. "The Last Time (I Sleep with You)" has arguably the most creative riffage having an almost playful hair metal style to it with a bluesy, emotional guitar solo with some ingenious note choices. "Midnight Rendezvous" is not the strongest ending from the normal release with a pretty cringe-worthy - for this modern time - call and response chorus but decent if not predictable hair metal riffage and singing.

Then we get to the bonus tracks featuring a slightly different lineup with Jeff Crock on vocals, and Doug Weiser on drums and of course, Matusik and Staub. As mentioned, the production is not nearly as polished as earlier tracks but I would argue it might be the most interesting to some. Crock has more of a KING DIAMOND sound with his high wails, hitting the right buttons for MERCYFUL FATE fans. "Sword of Vengeance" has a fist-pumping chorus and a slow march that makes it a nice slow banger. R.I.P. features some more silly call and response vocals but has much better production than the other bonus tracks and sounds like a souped up TED NUGENT track with great KING DAIMOND level vocals from Crock. Finally "The Dark Side" is pure, classic heavy metal with Bruce Dickinson style vocals showing Crock's great versatility.

For classic, old-school Heavy Metalheads, a lot of the production issues can be overlooked because that simply was how it was back in the 80s and early 90's. Most will look beyond that and see a band that could have gone far had they gotten their original music together sooner. Fans of the above mentioned bands should give these guys a shot.