01.
The Truth
02. The Ghost Ship
03. Blood Of The Heroes
04. Greed Is Blind
05. Sydonia Bork
06. Goddess Of Death
07. Night Of The Sin
08. Secret Of The Black Water
09. A Man Of Stone
10. Black Leviathan
11. T.V. War
The Polish true
heavy metal band CRYSTAL VIPER will release
their third record "Legends" on 22nd
October 2010. Singer Marta comments the tracks and explains
the message behind it:
THE TRUTH (INTRO) The opening intro includes a narration recorded by Rhino,
the legendary ex-Manowar drummer, who is currently member of
the bands Holyhell and Angels Of Babylon. It is kind of a
summary of the message behind the lyrics on "Legends”:
evil always returns to its culprit, and greed is blind.
THE GHOST SHIP
As the title suggest, the first song on the album tells the
story about a ghost ship, which - as they say - can be seen
during stormy nights around Slupsk's sea-coast, and which sank
because of human greed a few hundreds years ago. This is a
typical fast song in typical “German" style, with a
rhythm based on triplets. You can hear guys from Wizard - Sven
D'Anna & Dano Boland - doing the refrains.
BLOOD OF THE HEROES
The next fast song with a double bass drum attack, a catchy
main melody, and featuring the next special guest: Mat Sinner
of Primal Fear and Sinner, who recorded the refrains and
bridge in the second half of the song. This time lyrics are
based on a real story, about the defenders of the Castle Hill,
who were fighting in the year 1536.
GREED IS BLIND
This is probably the most NWoBHM-oriented song on the album,
due to its very classic construction and riffs. The legend
used in this song tells about an old blind man who comes to a
small village and offers the people richness and wealth in
exchange for their eyesight, because as he says - only the
blind ones can find the way to his treasure. We also did a
video for this song, where the title "Greed Is
Blind" was taken literally, and adopted to our times: a
businessman is giving a beggar his last money, but he is
killing him anyway, because he wants more. After finding an
empty wallet, the beggar loses his eyes.
SYDONIA BORK
The only ballad on "Legends" which tells the real
story of Countess Sydonia Bork (also known as Sydonia Von
Borck) who was decapitated and burned at the stake in Szczecin,
on August 19, 1620. She was known as the most beautiful women
in her principality, but her life was full of pain and
sadness. As the legend says, her ghost can be seen on every
moonlit night on the Szczecin's castle. This is also the very
first Crystal Viper song with a vocal line being recorded in 3
octaves.
GODDESS OF DEATH
A slower song which tells the story about the forgotten
goddess of death known as Smiertnica. In this song (like in
the ballad) we used a new instrument: church organs, so the
song has very dramatic and epic sound.
NIGHT OF THE SIN
This one is a classic tale about witches, and tells the story
about the sabbat which was taking place on the Slup mountain.
The next song with a catchy refrain, performed by our friends
from Wizard. There is one more special guest here: Stefan
Kaufmann of U.D.O. (who is also an ex-Accept musician)
recorded a guitar solo, which can be heard in the second half
of the song. The untypical ending was actually created in the
last minutes before entering the studio.
SECRET OF THE BLACK WATER
With no doubt the darkest, heaviest and most epic song on the
album. It was inspired by Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath
and tells a story about a lake with black and warm water, in
which the devil has his home.
A MAN OF STONE
A huge change of atmosphere here: a mid-tempo song with a nice
melody and a refrain which will stay in your head. A power
metal tune which may remind you on some early Helloween or
Gamma Ray stuff. The story is about a young man who is dealing
with the devil.
BLACK LEVIATHAN
Yes, there were pirates from Poland too. This legend tells the
story of Black Leviathan, pirate of the Baltic Sea. The
message here is the same as on the whole album: evil always
returns. There is one funny story being connected with
recording of this song: the opening intro was recorded on the
normal right-handed guitar by our guitarist Andy who
is...left-handed. We didn't want to change the strings, so
here's the very first Crystal Viper song with a guitar track
being recorded upside down.
T.V. WAR
The album ends with a cover song what isn't a huge surprise in
case of Crystal Viper. "T.V. War", originally
performed by Accept, perfectly fits to the Crystal Viper
style, but first of all, we wanted to pay a tribute to one of
the bands that had really strong influence on us. And Accept
with no doubt was and still is one of the most important bands
for Crystal Viper. As far as we know, they really like our
version of "T.V. War", what is a huge honor for us.
LINE-UP:
Crystal Viper are:
Marta Gabriel -
Vocals
Andy Wave -
Guitar
Tom Woryna -
Bass
Tom 'Golem' Danczak
- Drums
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