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A year after releasing Curse of the Crystal Viper, Crystal Viper puts out the compilation The Last Axeman. It features a lot of songs that were previously unreleased and all of them are unbelievably fucking cool. Starting with "The Last Axeman" - this song was on the previous album - from there the band plays Virgin Steele's "Blood and Gasoline" with David DeFeis and Joshua Brock (see what I mean by cool), "The Anvil of Hate" from (at the time unreleased album) Metal Nation (needless to say it rocks), a very good ballad "The Banshee" and covers of W.A.S.P.'s "Wild Child" and Manilla Road's "Flaming Metal Systems," the latter featuring Piotr Luczyk of the Polish band Kat. The last six songs are live performances, featuring songs from the first album and a live version of the Manilla Road cover present on this record, this time featuring Sacred Steel guitarist Gerrit Muntz. And while the sound quality isn't the best, Crystal Viper prove that they can deliver the goods. In the end, this is one of the few compilations worth owning and maybe the best ever. The Last Axeman is an essential purchase for fans of ripping Heavy Metal, no exceptions!!!