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I jumped on the Crystal Viper bandwagon with their third album, Legends, back in 2010 after hearing glowing reviews of their debut, The Curse of the Crystal Viper. Legends is more power/heavy metal than the debut, but I liked it just fine and have dutifully reviewed every album since. They've been on a downward trend, in my opinion, not that any of their albums have been bad, but releases like Possession and Queen of the Witches just didn't have the same catchy intensity as earlier albums. I'm happy to report that album 7, Tales of Fire and Ice, finds front woman Marta Gabriel and crew getting their groove back with a record chock full of power metal riffing, Gabriel's fine voice belting out catchy choruses and excitement oozing from each cut. You'll have to actively try to not to sing along with the chorus of "Bright Lights" or "Still Alive". "One Question" takes all the double-kick drum lessons taught by Helloween in the '80s and brings them up to date while "Tears of Arizona" has a Nightwish feel with its haunting piano and heartfelt vocals. The album wraps up with a killer cover of Dokken's "Dream Warriors".

Despite a near-tragic choice of cover art (seriously, it was not good), Tales of Fire and Ice is an excellent return to form for Crystal Viper.