The band already played on the well known festivals such as Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic) or Swordbrothers (Germany), and shared the stage with acts such as Doro, Blitzkrieg, Anvil, Sacred Steel, Cradle Of Filth, Hammerfall, Stratovarius and others.
Crystal Viper was formed in Katowice (Poland) in
2003 by vocalist Marta Gabriel (proffesional musician, 1st grade) and her husband - Bart
Gabriel (producer and manager). After several demo recordings Crystal Viper entered the
Kat Recording Studios to record the "Wild Child" song, for "A Tribute To
W.A.S.P." CD compilation (released in 2006 by Codiac Records, Denmark). In April of
2005, two members of the legendary New Wave Of British Heavy Metal act Elixir came to
Poland, to record with Crystal Viper the "Chaos Rising" song for "A Tribute
To Cirith Ungol" CD & LP compilation (Solemnity Music, 2006). After several not
important line up changes, since 2007 Crystal Viper is:
Marta Gabriel "Leather Wych" - vocals
Lukasz Halczuch "Andy Wave" - guitar
Pawel "Max" Gocyla - guitar & bass guitar
Dariusz Kachel "Dee Key" - bass guitar
Golem - drums
and
Piotr Brzychcy "Pete Raven" - additional guitar (live)
In summer of 2006 Crystal Viper recorded next cover
song - this time it was "Flaming Metal Systems" for "A Tribute To Manilla
Road" compilation - again with a special guest: Piotr Luczyk, guitarist of the
ultimate Polish Metal legend Kat, who recorded the opening guitar solo. Few days later
band inked a deal with German label Karthago Records (home of such cult bands as:
Noisehunter, Gravestone, No Trouble and many others). Few months after recording the song
for Manilla Road tribute album, Crystal Viper returned to the Zed Studio to record debut
full lenght concept-album, with all the lyrics written by Bart Gabriel, titled "The
Curse Of Crystal Viper". Intro for the album was recorded by another very special
guest: Gerrit P. Mutz, lead singer of the famous German True Heavy Metal band Sacred
Steel. "The Curse Of Crystal Viper" was released in February 2007 by Karthago
Records on CD, and in June the same year on purple vinyl, by High Roller Records. Album
got incredible feedback from both fans and press, with several "album of the
month" titles, with no review with rating lower than 4 for 5 or 8 for 10 points. The
band is currently working on special Mini CD titled "The Last Axeman" which will
include bunch of new songs, and previously unreleased & live recordings.
Crystal Viper plays traditional Heavy Metal,
inspired by the classic '80s Metal bands such as: Running Wild, Gamma Ray, Omen, Cirith
Ungol, Manilla Road, Stormwitch, Manowar, Zed Yago, Accept and others. The band already
played on the well known festivals such as Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic) or
Swordbrothers (Germany), and shared the stage with acts such as Doro, Blitzkrieg, Anvil,
Sacred Steel, Cradle Of Filth, Hammerfall, Stratovarius and others.
