Every once in a while a singer comes along who truly captures the spirit of traditional heavy metal. Of course the masters like Dio, Halford and Dickinson fit the description, as well as people like Geoff Tate, Midnight and Leather Leone who also stretched it into New directions and oozed natural talent and power. Marta Gabriel of polish NWOTHM band Crystal Viper is definitely one of them. She is an absolute powerhouse and makes her presence felt with full force whenever she opens her mouth to sing.
Metal Queens is a covers album and sees Marta going solo with the clear purpose of paying homage to some of her favorite female metal heroes by lovingly recreating some of her favorite songs by those artists. Marta is supported by a fine cast of killer players including Eric Juris who gives an explosive performance on guitar duties throughout the album. Ripping up the tracks with both great shredding leads and ballsy rhythm playing. The bass is handled well by Marta herself and Cederick Forsberg admirably handles the drums and percussion.
The production is fine with everything very clear and clean. Perhaps a little too clean for my personal taste. I’m not sure if the drums were recorded with triggers or sample replacements but they have that modern clicky, typewriter sound which I really don’t like. My preference is always for a more organic drum sound.
The album is consistently fantastic with Marta and band doing justice and more to every track.
Some standouts however are the fantastic “Metal Queen” by Lee Aaron with its epic and infectious melody and chorus.
The mighty “Light in the Dark” by Chastain in which Marta really nails Leather Leone’s vibe and there’s also a cool guest appearance from Jag Panzer’s Harry Conklin.
The Malteze beast “count your blessings” absolutely slays and the video clip is pretty cool too.
Finally the hard hitting “Reencarnacion” originally by Santa sung in Spanish is another slab of killer heavy metal delivered with passion and power.
Metal Queens is an album dedicated to honoring the great ladies of metal and Marta Gabriel and the band have succeeded in that endeavor. Metal Queens kicks ass from start to finish and any traditional heavy metal fan will love it.
LINE UP :
Marta Gabriel - lead and backing vocals, bass guitar
Eric Juris - lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars, choirs
Cederick Forsberg- drums and percussion, choirs
SPECIAL GUESTS:
John Gallagher (RAVEN) -bass guitar on ”My Angel”
Harry Conklin (JAG PANZER) -vocals on ”Light In The Dark”
Todd Michael Hall (RIOT V) -vocals on ”Call Of The Wild”
Track Listing
1.
Max Overload (ACID) 03:17
2.
Metal Queen (LEE AARON) 04:27
3.
Call Of The Wild (BLACKLACE) 04:19
4.
Light In The Dark (CHASTAIN) 05:17
5.
Rebel Ladies (ZED YAGO) 04:33
6.
My Angel (ROCK GODDESS) 02:59
7.
Count Your Blessings (MALTEZE) 04:56
8.
Goin' Wild (WENDY O' WILLIAMS) 04:25
9.
Bad Attitude (HELLION) 04:48
10.
Reencarnacion (SANTA) 05:00
11.
Mr Gold (WARLOCK) 03:22
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