CRYSTAL VIPER - Legends

\r\nI don’t know if it forms a universal truth but for me it’s a fact, “digging through garbage you might get you some diamonds”! This goes out to the Polish Crystal Viper whose third release called “Legends” simply kicks ass! The wolf shaped rider holding his menacing sickle leaves no doubt for what’s going to happen! Unfortunately I wasn’t familiar with Crystal Viper’s music despite the constant motivation of friends (Hail George!) so I can’t have a clear vision for the band’s history until now but I have a crystal clear opinion on “Legends” and its influence on me the last few weeks! It’s a killer!!
\r\nWhat we have here is nothing more than pure, passionate Heavy Metal at its best! No fillers, not an average track! Crystal viper manage to strike straight to your heart from the very first note of this masterpiece leaving you stunned and wondering what the hell was that that hit you. They probably have the secret ingredient that many other bands of the genre seem to miss, passion for the music! They play delivering that unique feeling of uncontrollable force and raw power that band’s like Manowar, Omen, Warlock and Priest delivered to us some decades ago. Crystal Viper follows in the tracks of these legends carrying the legacy to the present day simply by doing what they do best. They play Heavy Metal straight from the heart. Just like that! When it comes to metal that’s all you need. Surely there’ll be some people accusing them (there always are) as copiers of Running Wild and Stormwitch, but I would prefer to use the world “Influence” and personally I can’t think of a more appropriate band to be influenced by than Running Wild and Stormwitch (who they should be influenced by? Linkin Park maybe?). some might say that there’s “nothing Special” about them. The fact is we don’t want something special!! (If you want something special, go order a pizza!)
\r\nI won’t fiddle about the songs and their riffing and melodies or Marta Gabriel’s outstanding performance in order to convince you for the value of this album. Things are simple. If you listen to songs like “The Ghost Ship”, “Night Of The Sin”, “Goddess Of Death”, “Secret Of The Black Water”… (well.. all of them!!) and you don’t get yourself in a state of mind blowing trance (at least) better navigate away from this webzine and don’t bother listening to metal because obviously this kind of music isn’t for you. Besides Heavy Metal has never been a genre for mass consumption and as long as bands like Crystal Viper are out there keeping the flag high, it will never be.
\r\nHail to Poland!
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\r\nDimitris Karantounias\r\n