Inside Crystal Viper's 'Possession' with Marta Gabriel

Polish power metal act unleashes new concept album
By Peter Lindblad

Crystal Viper has just released its album 'Possession'

Marta Gabriel doesn't want to spoil anything, so she's been careful not to give too much away when talking about the story of Julia.

Suffice it to say, she goes through a lot one night, and the latest album from Poland's Crystal Viper wraps her spellbinding tale in darkly epic, thundering metal that thrashes with rage one moment and glows with heavy, melodic incandescence the next.

A concept album in the tradition of Mercyful Fate's Melissa, Possession is the cinematic sixth studio album – they've put out a brace of singles, along with a compilation album and a live LP, as well – from this pulverizing power metal militia. Formed in 2003, Crystal Viper is led by the multi-talented Gabriel, who wrote all the music and lyrics for Possession. Bart Gabriel (Burning Starr, Sacred Steel) produced the record, which included 50 screams submitted by Crystal Viper fans in the final mix.

All the trappings of traditional metal, from its blindingly fast tempos to its beguiling passages of shape-shifting melody, are found on Possession, as it bears a resemblance to the work of Ronnie James Dio and Judas Priest, but it undoubtedly gets its black atmospheres from influences like Bathory and King Diamond's old musical haunt. And Michal Oracz, famed for his design work with Polish board games and role-playing games, did the cover art.

It's an ambitious package, with vocal contributions from Jag Panzer's Harry Conklin and Desaster's Sataniac, especially considering all the fashion design – she has a clothing line called Thunderball Clothing – and studio session work Gabriel does outside of Crystal Viper. Gabriel talked in depth recently about Crystal Viper's new record and all the other irons she has in the fire in this e-mail interview. 

Crystal Viper - Possession 2014

This is a concept record with a story that revolves around a young girl named Julia, and it's an incredibly cinematic tale. Tell us about Julia and how you developed her character.

Marta Gabriel: I wouldn't say I developed Julia's character in some special way, as the story basically tells what happened "around" Julia, during one night, on Friday [the] 13th. But I can tell you Julia is reincarnation of the witch named Sarah, and you could meet Sarah on our previous album Crimen Excepta...

Is this the most ambitious record Crystal Viper has ever made?

MG: I don't know, [it's] hard to say. We never plan anything. When we have enough good new songs, we do an album, that's all. We never think, "We should do this, or we should do this." We love writing, playing, and recording heavy metal. We prefer to act, not talk.

"Evil" is a topic that comes up a lot on the record, and there seems to be this inner struggle in Julia between innocence and succumbing to darkness or becoming possessed. How much do you relate to the character of Julia and what she's going through?

MG: Struggle between innocence and being possessed? Not really. Our story has a pretty unexpected twist. Let me keep the secret: if I would tell you what Possession is about, then it would be like telling people how the movie they are going to watch will end. But I can tell you another thing: if you will carefully analyze the front cover artwork of our new album, and you will listen to the album and read the lyrics, you will find out that almost every single song is represented on this picture.

What makes these themes of possession and evil such interesting subjects for you to write about and how did the story take shape?

MG: It's hard to answer this question, as the album, well, it's not really about "possession." At least not kind of the "possession" everyone expect. It's not [a] typical ghost / exorcism story. It has an unexpected twist and goes into themes and subjects no one would expect from a band like us.

In making this record, it seems that you wanted it to be darker, sort of blending traditional melodic metal with classical music, the thrash influences of a Metallica and the blacker epics of somebody like Mercyful Fate or Bathory. Was it the story that drove you to do that or did you simply like the idea of experimenting with all those different elements?

MG: Both yes and no. First of all, all members of Crystal Viper are die hard metal fans. All of us collect records, we go out to see other bands, we travel to see bands on festivals and so on. And everyone in Crystal Viper has different personal favorites, different tastes. All these tastes and personal influences melted together make what Crystal Viper is all about. So I can say that yeah, we are a heavy metal band, but I could list many, many thrash, black, and even death metal acts as our favorite acts, or influences. But you are right, Mercyful and Bathory are right there, between bands we all love.

"Why Can't You Listen?" is one of my favorites, along with "Voices in My Head" and "Mark of the Horned One." They're all really heavy, but you incorporate a lot of diverse influences and interesting changes in mood and texture. When writing songs, especially with this record, how do you balance that desire to be aggressive with fleshing out melodies and wanting songs to take on different characteristics?

MG: It's all about the story that I'm going to say in a song. Possession is a concept album. It's one big story told in all songs, one after another. So at the beginning I had to sketch the story, and then I was writing songs to build atmosphere around them. It was like painting a picture with sounds. You know, you can't do for example a fast and funny-sounding song about let's say killing or something epic. It would make no sense, unless you want to say the story from, I don't know, some maniac's perspective. Writing concept albums is maybe a bit harder than writing normal albums, but it's great fun for me. It's like doing a movie without pictures, without vision. You need to make sure the sounds, the melodies, and atmosphere of the songs go side by side with the story. I'm a great fan of movies, especially classic horrors, so this is the real reason of doing concept albums.

You wanted your fans to be involved in this record. How did you come with the idea to have them send in their screams and bring them into the recording?

MG: We love our fans. The truth is if there would be no fans, there would be no music at all, no heavy metal and no Crystal Viper. I'm not sure who exactly come out with this idea. It came out on one of our band meetings. We thought it would be something cool to do something special, something unique – you know, everyone can buy a CD or a t-shirt, but how often can you find your name in the album booklet, and say, "Hey, it's me!" when you listen to some song? I think it's really cool.

How would compare the playing on this record to that of past Crystal Viper records? Would you say the band as a whole is progressing as musicians?

MG: All musicians learn their whole life. If you are a musician, and you come to a point when you start to think you already know everything, it means you should start doing something else and quit playing. So with this in mind, I'm sure everyone's playing on each next Crystal Viper album is a little better.

Inviting vocalists Harry Conklin of Jag Panzer and Sataniac of Desaster certainly adds fascinating contrast to "Fight Evil With Evil" and "Julia Is Possessed." What made you pick those two singers in particular to appear on the record, and as for your own vocal treatments, was there anything different about Possession that made it challenging?

MG: Yes, we have Harry Conklin from Jag Panzer and Satan's Host, and Sataniac of Desaster on our album. We always try to invite members of other bands to be special guests on our album; it's already kind of tradition for us. We invite people we respect and like. This time it was Harry and Sataniac from Desaster. They are great guys, talented musicians, and it was great pleasure and honor to work with them. So everyone, if you don't know Desaster or Harry's bands – Jag Panzer, Satan's Host and Titan Force, check them out. They are f**kin' awesome and metal to the bone. Challenging? I don't know, for sure there were easier and harder parts to sing. Maybe most challenging was to put right emotions into singing, as with a concept album you actually tell the story.

You are also an in-demand session player. Has working on others' records influenced what you wanted to do with Crystal Viper?

MG: I wouldn't say so. I mean I love working with other bands and with other musicians, as I learn all the time. I'm like a sponge, I absorb everything. But I wouldn't say working with other bands had influence on what I do with Crystal Viper. We rather have an own path to follow.

You've recorded with power metal acts like Sabaton and Majesty, as well as Witch Cross. What was the most memorable thing about those experiences?

MG: Every single opportunity of working with other bands and artists is absolutely wonderful and memorable. I couldn't list only one. It's great when bands invite me to sing or to play with them. It shows the unity of the metal bands.

Tell us about your clothing line, Thunderball Clothing. What are the designs like and what was it that made you want to get into fashion?

MG: When I started to play on stage with my band, I couldn't find clothes I like in stores, so I started to make clothes for myself, and later for my bandmates. From time to time my friends were asking me if I could create something for them, and later, from one word to another, strangers started to ask me about custom clothes, as they've seen something cool that I've made for others. As there were more and more requests, I decided to open my own company, and create a clothing line, Thunderball Clothing. I think I found another amazing way in my life, as designing and making clothes is [the] next opportunity to make an art, which of course is inspired by music.

As a woman in metal, do you think the genre is becoming less of a man's world and that female artists are gaining more power?

MG: I will tell you like this: if someone doesn't like or doesn't accept female fronted acts, then well, it's not really my problem. Everyone has personal taste. I personally like a lot of female fronted acts, or even all female bands, like for example Rock Goddess, Warlock, Acid, Blacklace or Chastain, or even several of these modern female-fronted acts, such as Nightwish or Within Temptation. If I like someone's music I don't think if it's male or female singing or playing. I'm not really paying attention if there are more or less female artists. I do my own thing.

You decided to cover the Riot classic "Thundersteel." What made you decide to remake that song and what approach did you want to take toward doing it?

MG: We always wanted to record cover version of "Thundersteel,"as it's one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever written. We were just waiting for the right moment. And recording it as the bonus track for [the] new album was a perfect match, because when you will see all lyrics from the new album – with "Prophet Of The End" being the last song – and you know [the] lyrics of "Thundersteel," you will find out that "Thundersteel" can be taken as the song about something that got revealed in "Prophet Of The End." We are actually in touch with Riot members, and they were between first persons who heard it – they like it very much, so it's a big honor! One trivia here: when we were recording this cover, we tried to mix both versions, the original demo version which was recorded by Narita (Mark's other band he had in 1985) and [the] version that everyone knows from the Riot album.

Where does Crystal Viper, and, in particular, Marta Gabriel, go from here?

MG: I won't surprise you here: writing, composing, and recording lot of music – not only for Crystal Viper, as I have million other projects in mind as well! And yeah, doing next clothes for Thunderball Clothing!

CD Review: Kamelot - Silverthorn

CD Review: Kamelot - Silverthorn

Steamhammer/SPV

All Access Review: A-

Kamelot - Silverthorn 2012

Before taking his last breath in the classic film “Citizen Kane,” ambitious publishing magnate Charles Foster Kane enigmatically whispers, “Rosebud,” and a newsreel reporter spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out just what the devil he meant by that dying utterance. Power-metal observers may find the title of Kamelot’s latest magnum opus, Silverthorn, to be just as perplexing, because guitarist/composer Thomas Youngblood, essentially the director of this extravagant production, is being rather cryptic about its significance, leaving it to the listener to decipher it on his or her own.

A sweeping epic, as only Kamelot and Youngblood, in particular, can stage, Silverthorn weaves a haunting tale of lost innocence, heart-rending tragedy, guilty consciences, and troubling family secrets around a young girl’s death and her twin brothers’ search for resolution and salvation. Befitting the poignancy and the dramatic tenor of the story, not to mention the deeply conflicted morality and humanity of its characters, Youngblood has composed a tour de force of jaw-dropping, melodic metal grandeur that's just as awe-inspiring as the cinematic scope of Nightwish's most majestic creations, if somewhat less wintry. Meticulously sequenced so that each piece is logically and inextricably bound to the next, with new singer Tommy Karevik interpreting with clarity and stunning expression the reflective moods, emotional turmoil and thrilling action of the engrossing lyrical narrative, the expansive and mysterious Silverthorn explores progressive sonic labyrinths with childlike wonder and endures full-on invasions of classical bombast, glorious choral outbursts and churning gothic metal riffage. Out via Steamhammer/SPV, and packaged in a limited-edition box set, a doubleg gatefold LP, or the Ecolbook normal version, there's nothing subtle about Silverthorn.

In “Manus Dei,” which serves as a sort of prologue to Silverthorn, there is unease and fear in the smartly executed piano figures, that sense of impending doom enhanced by the enveloping darkness of urgent, sharp vocal violence and cutting strings. Out of the blackness, the pulse-pounding “Sacrimony (Angel of the Afterlife),” emerges, caught up in a swirling vortex of symphonic flourishes and surging guitars and breathlessly racing headlong into the heavy, pendulum swing of the more menacing “Ashes to Ashes.” Among the most impactful tracks on Silverthorn, “Torn” is fraught with tension and its release is cathartic. Immense walls of sound that they are, the title track, “Veritas” and “My Confession” are similarly cast, although the down-and-dirty, serpentine grooves that hold the grinding “Veritas” in their death grip fill a need for some much needed low-end thickness and grit – something Silverthorn otherwise lacks.

Completely over the top, even to the point where it might be wise of Kamelot to scale back on the full-blown orchestration and avoid burying the character of their songs in such lush instrumentation, the multi-layered Silverthorn is, nevertheless, a grandiose monument to Youngblood’s exacting standards with regard to arrangements, sonic quality and musicianship that dazzles. When experienced as a whole, Silverthorn’s overflowing melodies, beastly metal riffs, compelling storyline and the Rick Wakeman-like keyboard excursions from Oliver Palotai make it a fantastical sonic journey with many magnificent peaks and lovely valleys – one being the beautifully rendered “Song for Jolee,” a soft, sad little ode held together with the rather fragile thread of pretty piano and Karevik’s tender vocal treatment. An exception, rather than the rule, “Song of Jolee” is practically the antithesis of “Prodigal Son,” its swells of church organ contrasting with carefully plotted acoustic guitar surrounded by heady rushes of sound. Such is the way with Kamelot, these Floridians who seem more European than anything else. If not quite as volcanic or malevolent as the last couple of Kamelot records, Silverthorn somehow still manages to rise majestically above them, its melodies bigger than life. Now, if only Youngblood would just tell us what Silverthorn means.

-            Peter Lindblad

Metal Evolution - "Power Metal"

Metal Evolution - "Power Metal"
Sam Dunn
VH1 Classic

All Access Review:  A-

Many wars have been fought over religious differences, each side believing theirs is the one true faith. The heavy metal community has its own zealots, and today’s power metal scene – often the subject of ridicule for its “Dungeons and Dragons” imagery, fans all decked out in medieval battle garb and its “happy metal” accessibility  – is full of them. Huge in Europe, where festivals such as Metal Camp in Slovenia pack them in, power metal is populated by bands such as Hammerfall, Manowar, Falconer, Primal Fear, and female-fronted Finnish-Swedish power metal royalty Nightwish, among others. For the latest episode of “Metal Evolution,” filmmaker Sam Dunn, with silent partner Scot McFayden working behind the scenes, traces the roots of power metal all the way back to Rainbow and Ronnie James Dio, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the Scorpions and attempts to figure out where it all went so haywire.

Even Dunn isn’t quite sure what to make of this thing. Traveling overseas, he goes to great lengths to explore every single facet of a sub-genre marked by bombastic, epic arrangements, singers with operatic range, melodic guitars that fly at unheard of speeds, questionable fashion choices, and gothic sensibilities. At Wacken, there’s a small costumed marching band – with a drum major wearing a wig of long, flowing hair – that walks past Dunn playing Europe’s “Final Countdown.” An on-again off-again meeting with neo-classical guitar god Yngwie Malmsteen is scrapped when the notoriously flighty and sometimes difficult Malmsteen decides not to show up; then, Dunn is supposed to interview Malmsteen in a castle. Eventually, it takes place, and Dunn, finding the whole situation funny, graciously gives Malmsteen the spotlight to explain how he’s merged classical music and metal over the years, and all is forgiven.

His patience already tested, Dunn is also eager to tell the story of Manowar, the shirtless, loin-clothed defenders of what they’ve referred to as “true metal,” and their obsession with Conan the Barbarian. But, founding member Joey DeMaio refuses to sit down with Dunn. Undaunted, Dunn turns to ex-Manowar member Ross the Boss, also known for his past association with punk heroes The Dictators. Unlike DeMaio, Ross is comfortable talking about Manowar, whether or not they were “true metal” and why they were so into Conan. It’s so tempting to make jokes at Manowar’s expense and others have, taking jabs at their hyper-macho, caveman-like appearance and fantasy-laden lyrics. But, because Ross clearly doesn’t take himself or Manowar too seriously, it’s probably time to just leave them be and appreciate their actual dedication to bringing power metal back to its origins. The likeable Dunn, smiling all the way through “Power Metal,” takes the high road and does just that.

Where past installments of “Metal Evolution” have, perhaps, treated the subject matter at hand with reverence, “Power Metal” comes off as something of a lark. That’s not to say that Dunn, obviously having fun in revealing all the pomp and circumstance this kind of metal has to offer, has tongue planted firmly in cheek throughout or that he shows metal’s most outrageous sub-genre any disrespect. Dutifully, Dunn constructs a rich history of power metal through informative interviews with writers like Martin Popoff and Metal Hammer’s Sandro Buti, and members of power metal’s most influential artists, including Priest’s Rob Halford, Dio, and practically all of Iron Maiden. The German angle is pursued vigorously, with Dunn connecting the dots between Tokyo Tapes-era Scorpions and Accept and some of the newer power metal acts from that country. Meanwhile, contemporary power-metal players like the ultra-fast, “Guitar Hero”-gunslingers Dragonforce and the wintry, gothic, and breathtakingly dramatic Nightwish all explain how they are forging a new course for heavy metal. And when Nightwish keyboardist Tuomas Halopainen passionately discusses his love of making music for film and how that could be the new classical music, you can’t help but believe him.

Described somewhat disparagingly early on in the episode as “happy metal,” power metal in all its glory seems to be a force to be reckoned with in Europe. Like Maiden, these acts infuse melody and harmonics into an immense wave of sound, and it has caught on over there – especially with female fans. The popularity of Nightwish is living proof. And while power metal, with its festival crowds singing and chanting along as one big sweaty, foul-smelling mass of joyful metal unity, has not conquered North America, it could invade at any time and crash through our snobbish defenses to scale the charts with a sound that isn’t so different from Evanescence or Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Always straddling that line between being unforgivably cheesy and stunningly beautiful, power metal has come a long way, baby, and Dunn comes to that realization by the end of the show. Still incredulous, though, at its sheer audacity, Dunn celebrates power metal in all its ridiculousness, and in the end, sees it as not only harmless fun, but also as an art form that has its own magic and majesty.

- Peter Linblad

Metal Evolution - Power Metal

Watch the Full Episode - Here and Now!

Metal Evolution