Crystal Viper - In the Eyes of The Last Axeman

 

By Mark Kadzielawa

Crystal Viper are a heavy metal band from Poland.  They live and breath heavy metal, and absolutely love what they do.  Since their first release in 2007, Crystal Viper continues to be a very exciting and dependable unit.  Their albums always deliver the goods.  Crystal Viper knows and understands the heavy metal spirit.  The passion is there, and you can feel it from miles away.

"The Last Axeman" is the latest EP from Crystal Viper.  It's a combination of original and cover material, and some live in the studio performances.  It's a blistering release!  After the long pandemic starvation; this band is ready to go!

Marta Gabriel is Crystal Viper's guitarist and vocalist.  She is a very charismatic performer, and the mastermind behind the band and its success.  It clearly appears that playing and recording music is her life-long mission.  She certainly deserves your support when it comes to reaching her goals.

Marta Gabriel talks about the new EP, her life in music, and all things Crystal Viper! 

It seems like many bands are resuming their activities after lockdowns.  Is "The Last Axeman’s" purpose to make the fans aware that you’re still alive and kicking?

Well we were pretty active during the lockdown, and that’s how what started as a single, turned into a release which is almost 40 minutes long. We wanted to celebrate 15^th anniversary of our debut album with refreshed version of “The Last Axeman”, but in the meantime we also took part in the #RockOutSessions action during which we recorded 4 songs live in studio, and we joined the official DIAMOND HEAD tribute album with a cover version of “It’s Electric”. So we had 6 songs ready. Instead of splitting them, we decided to add one more new song, and one more cover song, to add more value to this release, and make this super long EP.

In your opinion, what do you think the new EP has to offer?

Well I guess this release will be more interesting for people who already know Crystal Viper, and are aware of what we do. As I said we wanted to make this release as valuable as possible, so although officially it’s an EP, it includes almost 40 minutes of traditional, classic Heavy Metal. 

Tell me about the two cover songs you did on the new EP? Did you face any challenges arranging and recording them?

We love recording cover songs, and we recorded many, many of them. So it’s basically like a tradition in our case. We keep on recording cover songs of our favorite artists, to show our fans where it’s all coming from, what are the roots of Crystal Viper, but it’s also a tribute to bands who inspired us. In the past we recorded cover songs of bands and artists such as King Diamond, Exciter, Riot, Grim Reaper or Manilla Road, now for this EP we recorded cover song of Aria, and we also included Diamond Head cover, which will also appear on the official Diamond Head tribute album. Challenges, well, some songs are easier to play and arrange, some other are harder, but that’s part of the fun. We love doing that.

You released your last studio album, The Cult, back in 2021. What response did it generate?

Amazing, the feedback we received was amazing! Our old fans love it, and I know we earned many, many new fans. “The Cult” is the comeback to our roots, both as a band, and when it comes to our teenage years. We’re all nerds you know, we love old horror and science fiction movies, books, comic books, old school arcade games and so on, so we wanted to capture that energy and vibe on “The Cult”.

Were you able to do any promotional concerts when the album came out?

Not really. We had this few weeks long European tour with Raven and Wolf confirmed, but then the pandemic begun, and everything was either canceled or postponed. We played literally 3 live shows to promote “The Cult” within last 2 years. This is super frustrating. 

Also, you did release a solo album titled, Metal Queens.  How did this album come about?  What focus did you take on that record?

“Metal Queens” is my personal tribute to some of my favorite female singers and female fronted bands from the ‘80s: Warlock, Lee Aaron, Hellion, Blacklace, Acid, Santa, Rock Goddess, Malteze, Zed Yago, and Wendy O’ Williams. I compiled a collection of my favorite songs, and then we arranged the entire thing that way, to make it sound like a one, solid heavy metal album. So when you listen to it, you can enjoy it as a standalone heavy metal album, even if you don’t know the original versions of those songs.

Is it fair to say that you yourself should be considered as one of the metal queens?  You did put a lot of hard work and years into heavy metal, it seems fair to be properly rewarded and billed.

Well thank you, but I don’t think about myself that way. I just love playing, recording and performing, and I love hard rock and heavy metal. I love what I’m doing, and I love sharing that passion with other people.

What is the heavy metal scene in Poland like nowadays?  I remember growing up in Poland in the early 80s, and liking heavy metal music, and for the most part I was considered an outcast.  Now when I visit, I see both guys and girls wearing heavy metal t-shirts. Back then it was impossible to see a girl into metal, and now it’s very common.  What changes were you able to observe during your time?

I honestly don’t analyze it that much. I’m aware that more extreme genres like black and death metal are way more popular over here, so there are way more people on those shows. We actually often meet people here in Poland, who tell us that they had no idea we exist, and they ask us if we’re a new band (laugh). But I don’t mind, since I love death and black metal as well. Although I’m guessing the change you’re talking about might be visible, as it’s now much easier to buy merch, and basically the access to the music is much, much easier than back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Also many people who are fans, don’t buy physical releases like CDs or vinyls at all, so I guess they prefer to support the artists by buying their merchandise.

In your opinion how are women heavy metal performers being treated in Poland, and abroad? What differences do you see when you play in various countries?

I didn’t spot any differences when it comes to countries, but in general, I don’t think it should be analyzed from the “metal” perspective. You know, if someone don’t respect women, then it won’t matter if we are talking about woman who is a metal performer, or who is a lawyer, or who sells in a local grocery store.

When you look back at Crystal Viper’s career what is it you are the most proud of?

The fact that we are still doing that, without a doubt. I know that for many people, success is equal with selling millions of albums, being rich, having big house and so on. Sure, that would be nice, but in my case, the real success is doing what we love to do: playing heavy metal, and sharing it with the fans of the genre. We did 8 studio albums and we played in almost 20 countries, we met some amazing people, and we have friends all over the world. That’s something I’m really proud of! 

At this point, where is your most successful market for the music you play?

When it comes to numbers, I believe it would be Germany, Spain and Greece, but I know we have fans all over the globe. We’re sometimes getting fan mail from some really amazing and super exotic places. So yeah, that would be another thing I’m really proud of, that we reached so many people, and that so many people from different countries, from different cultures, like what we do. Absolutely amazing!

Do you have any plans to tour the American market?  Do you think the band is known enough to launch such a trip?  Could there ever be a package of Polish metal bands touring United States?

There were such plans, but the truth is we couldn’t afford it so far. It all got complicated with visas for musicians, and the prices of flights tickets between Europe and US are insane. We actually never played outside of Europe, so I really hope it will change. We know we have many fans in the US, it would be amazing to play for you guys one day!

What’s next for you and the band?

For now we focus on the promotion of this new EP, and I really hope we can finally play some live shows this year. We love playing, we love performing, stage is my home. Crystal Viper is a live band, we need live shows like air and water!