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Guitarist Jack Starr left Virgin Steele after only two albums and went out on his own, looking to create more traditional Heavy Metal and Hard Rock. His debut solo record, Out of the Darkness, from 1984, is getting an update from Limb Music and a remaster at the hands of R. D. Liapakis. If you missed this one back in the 80s, like I did, let me give you breakdown on what to expect. Starr is a talented guitarist, no question, and he enlisted former Riot singer Rhett Forrester along with The Rods' Carl Canedy (who also produced Out of the Darkness) and Garry Bordonaro on drums and bass, respectively. This early 80s "supergroup" set about to record some gritty, catchy Traditional Heavy Metal. Songs like "Chains of Love" and "False Messiah" are pure U.S. Power Metal with heavy riffs and speedy drumming supporting Starr's fret board histrionics and Forrester's powerful vocals. "Wild in the Streets" and "Let's Get Crazy Again" are much more in the Hard Rock vein, with simpler song structures and "happy" melodies. These songs remind me of Helix quite a bit, which is funny because the Canadian quintet also had a song called "Wild in the Streets." Out of the Darkness features a couple of instrumentals, "Scorcher," where Starr gets his Eddie Van Halen on, and "Amazing Grace." There are a couple of ballads that are rather lame by today's standards. Limb rounds out this re-release with some additional instrumentals from Starr's later albums, all of which are for dedicated guitar aficionados only. The whole album is resplendent with the 80s sound, and by that I means tons of echo, so it sounds rather dated.

If a mix of Virgin Steele's early material and Helix's more rocking tunes sounds good, you'll want to pick this one up, as it has great nostalgia value. Otherwise, Out of the Darkness is an up and down affair that has some really good songs and some real dross.