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Review: Crystal Viper - Legends
Crystal Viper
www.crystalviper.com
Legends

Label: AFM Records
Year released: 2010
Duration: 46:43
Tracks: 11
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
4.5/5


Review online: October 19, 2010
Reviewed by: Christopher Foley
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 4.13/5 (82.5%) (40 Votes)
Review

This is another one I've took my sweet time with, I must have spun this around 15 times now so I know the album really well; the best thing is with each successive spin it gets better. Crystal Viper are such a cool band, I really admire them and their work as well as their treat of a vocalist Marta Gabriel. As far as I'm concerned Legends is probably her best vocal performance to date, she's really on it this time around.

In comparison to their previous output I've got to say that Legends is their most pristine sounding release, and the production is a lot clearer and brighter than the last two. The riffs are excellent as per usual, catchy and very Running Wild. The rhythm section is spot on, quality sticks work courtesy of "Golem" (Tomasz Danczak) which serves as the perfect backbone, and Tom Woryna's bass is kept in the mix right where it belongs. Returning to the guitars, Andy Wave has done a cracking job, as mentioned before the riffs are great and catchy, the solos again are spot on, and the melodies are perfectly catchy and hooky and have kept me going back to this.

Track-wise, the album kicks off with a short narrated piece which I'm indifferent to, I could have done without but it doesn't detract at all. What follows is a tour de force in heavy metal brilliance with three winners straight off the bat, "The Ghost Ship" and "Blood of the Heroes" are straight out of Running Wild although never verge on outright plagiarism, with both boasting wickedly catch choruses. I should mention that it does take a few spins for the hooks to bury their way into your flesh, I took me around four or five spins to register everything but now I wander around the house singing the songs and humming the melodies. "Greed Is Blind" seems to be the lead off track, having a music video made for it, excellent track again with some real nice melodies.

I could really go on about stand out tracks. I'd say the weakest offering is probably "Sydonia Bork", though it's still a pretty catchy ballad. After an ever so slight down point Crystal Viper return to the awesomeness of the opening three belters, with the quality remaining high up until their cover of Accept's "TV War". With personal highlights in the catchy "Night of the Sin" and the awesome "Black Leviathan" with its Maiden style intro, I could really go on but I would imagine you've got the picture by now: this rules.

I've been pleasantly surprised by this album, and I've got to say its one of my favorites of the year so far. With the only slight niggles being the ballad, which only really niggles because I felt it was placed too soon into the album, and also as previously mentioned this took a little while to click, so those with a short attention span could be thrown. Overall if you're a fan of Crystal Viper then this is a no-brainer you won't be disappointed. Fans of good old fashioned heavy metal, this album is a boat load of fun and certainly worthy of your attention. Highly Recommended.

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