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Poland's Crystal Viper is back with album #4, Crimen Excepta. Like its predecessor, Legends, Crimen Excepta is chock full of Traditional/Power Metal anthems highlighted by the leather-lunged Marta Gabriel. Her high-pitched wails propel songs like "It's Your Omen" and the Polish-language "Tyrani Piekiel" as if they were projectiles blasting from the speakers. Lead guitarist Andy Wave plays downright mean and nasty solos, the kind that become part of the song, as much as the riff or chorus, like those classic Judas Priest solos. All the songs are solid and if you want to find fault with Crystal Viper's songwriting it would be that Crimen Excepta sounds very similar to Legends and doesn't showcase much growth. Of course, it is hard to complain when the songs still kick a ton of ass. The choice of giving each song a 5-15 second intro (mostly sound effects of fire, witches screaming, etc.) is odd, and breaks the flow of the album a bit.

If you already like Crystal Viper, it is safe to assume you aren't going to be burning the band's CDs at the stake once you've heard Crimen Excepta.