PRESS RELEASE: Marta Gabriel, the front woman of heavy metal stalwarts CRYSTAL VIPER – and respected session musician, with a vocal range of more than four octaves – is considered to be one of the finest singers of her generation. Rob Bendelow is the founder and original guitarist of the legendary British rock band SARACEN – as the composer of albums such as “Vox In Excelso”, “Redemption”, and most notably “Heroes Saints And Fools”, Rob is a truly respected contributor to the history of classic rock. So what might the result be if those two were to join forces, and combine their obvious passion for music? The answer is MOON CHAMBER. The quintet’s debut opus, entitled “Lore Of The Land”, will be released in October 2019 on the No Remorse Records label. In addition to Marta and Rob, three other musicians complete the MOON CHAMBER ranks. Keyboard duties are handled by Paul Bradder of SARACEN, and the driving percussion comes courtesy of PAGAN ALTAR’s Andy Green. In addition to vocals, Marta recorded all the bass guitar parts for the album, but Richard Bendelow (Rob’s son) is now responsible for the bass element going forward. The album comprises ten new tracks, deeply rooted in the classic rock of the ’70s and ’80s, whilst drawing inspiration from the wealth of English folklore, history and legend. The band’s first single entitled “Ravenmaster” will have its premiere on April 26. It will be released as a limited edition promo CD, and made available to visiting fans of the Keep It True festival in Germany. This CD single will include two songs: “Ravenmaster”, plus MOON CHAMBER’s rendition of the SARACEN anthem “Crusader”. Cover artwork has been hand-crafted by Italian artist Roberto Toderico, known for his work with artistes such as TYGERS OF PAN TANG, QUARTZ or HEXX. More information: www.facebook.com/moonchamberofficial
Below, you can watch a video with Marta Gabriel talking about Moon Chamber…
“The story started last year, in December (2017), when Rob Bendelow, the composer of Saracen, found me on the internet. He found Crystal Viper and my voice. And he liked my voice… he said that he got inspired by my voice so much that he wrote a song and sent it to us, for me to sing. I felt so honoured because I am a huge huge Saracen fan! This is one of my favourite heavy metal bands. You can hear Saracen vocalist on Crystal Viper’s last album. So, we received the song and I loved it completely and I said that it was something very cool to record the vocals, just for us, just for fun and let’s see what happens. Before I even had the chance to record the vocals from that song, Rob said that the first song needed a B-side. So, he composed another song for me to sing. That was amazing! The song was totally beautiful, so we started to talk about doing an album together. Two months later the album was ready! Rob is a fantastic composer, he is a genious song writer. Right now we are signed to a Greek label, No Remorse Records. This summer we will complete the album and it will be out this year (note that the interview took place in May 2018!). The band is called Moon Chamber and it’s not heavy metal at all. It’s something between like Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane… ‘70s rock. So, it’s something completely different to what I do with Crystal Viper, or other things that I’ve done in the past. And it was also the perfect moment for me, because at the end of last year I was like… “well, it would be great to do something different, maybe create a new band…” and wow, three days later Rob contacted us for the song! Well, I was speechless really! I was so excited about this band and I am looking forward to recording the album and for the upcoming shows. We will record the album in a studio in Poland. I hope you will like it, because I am very excited about that! And Rob is also!”
