Album Review: Crystal Viper - The Cult

As today we are dealing with an album that is self-described as 'traditional metal', I've been thinking about that term. We all know what it means about adhering to the old formulas, but there's a mentality in there that doesn't make a lot of sense. Since metal was born of a renegade spirit, and was a youthful statement of rebellion from the culture surrounding those musicians, it seems that intentionally playing by the old rules is the very antithesis of what metal used to be. I can forgive that in some corners of the metal world where there is no such history, but traditional metal is the straight line drawn from the counter culture to today's ardent rule followers.

After the cliche two minute introduction, the title track of the record starts us off with Maiden-esque guitar harmonies, while Marta Gabriel wails away some high notes. Everything does sound ripped right from the glory days of the 80s, which I suppose is a good thing if you grew up loving the music of that time. If you are more attuned to what metal has evolved into, there is a lack of memorable melody built into songs like this. That may or may not be intentional, since it's hard to tell if they're copying the way songs were written back then, or if they're incapable of doing better.

That's the problem with doing a straight throwback; if you don't modernize the old, it comes off sounding foreign to the current listeners. What was an acceptable level of songwriting in 1984 is not what we have come to expect today, and without the lens of nostalgia to gloss over the shortcomings, Crystal Viper's music comes across as being incomplete. The old days of a riff and a chant worked because metal was new, and many of those riffs were strong enough to be the hook of the song. Crystal Viper's guitar playing is fine, but the musical compositions on their own are not enough to carry the weight of the songs, and the vocal lines don't stick.

Ronnie James Dio got away with a lot of songs that didn't have traditional choruses or big hooks because he had the vocal charisma to turn anything into a memorable line. While Marta is a solid singer, she doesn't have that kind of presence, which is absolutely necessary if these songs are going to do anything but disappear into the torrent of 2021 releases.

"The Cult" is a perfectly acceptable album of entirely predictable traditional metal. There's not a lot to say about something that is trying to do the same thing for the thousandth time. If you like traditional metal, this is a fine way of spending some time. If you're looking for something great that will stay with you, this doesn't stand out from all the other traditional metal albums enough to be memorable. There simply isn't anything *interesting* about what Crystal Viper are doing.