It's hard to believe The Silver Key is the ninth studio album from Poland's Crystal Viper going back to their debut in 2007. Front woman Marta Gabriel and crew just keep cranking out heavy metal goodness every 2-3 years. The Silver Key is classic Crystal Viper with excellent guitar work, infectious choruses, and Gabriel's distinctive and powerful voice. The usual slower anthems like "The Key Is Lost" and rambunctious rockers such as "Heading Kadath" are represented and Gabriel even channels '70s hard rock legends Heart, including vocalist Ann Wilson, on "Wayfaring Dreamer," an entertaining ballad with something of a folky vibe right off of Little Queen, Heart's 1977 album. In terms of songwriting, which is where a lot of variation in my scores of Crystal Viper albums stems from, I'd call The Silver Key on the standard side with lots of great playing but no real standout tracks that I want to keep coming back to again and again. I really don't want to knock an album that for many bands would be a career pinnacle, so I'll say this about The Silver Key; while it doesn't have songs to rival Crystal Viper's best, it is consistently strong throughout, wrapping up with a Bathory cover (Bathory!) that works nicely to close out the album. Another fine addition to the Crystal Viper canon, shy of the band's best work but sure to please fans.
Note: The cover of Bathory's "Gods of Thunder of Wind and of Rain" is on the CD version.
