ALBUM REVIEW: The Crown, "Royal Destroyer"

By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 12/03/2021
Label: Metal Blade Records

 
“Royal Destroyer” CD//DD//LP track listing:
 
1). Baptized in Violence
2). Let the Hammering Begin!
3). Motordeath
4). Ultra Faust
5). Glorious Hades
6). Full Metal Justice
7). Scandinavian Satan
8). Devoid of Light
9). We Drift On
10). Beyond The Frail
11). Absolute Monarchy
 
The Review:
 
Ok, so the tracklist on the info sheet does not match how the files store in my media player- or on the band's Wikipedia entry... so track by track is out of the question here. However, information issues aside, what you really need to know is that this RIPS!
 
The Crown are Scandinavian and play, officially, melodic death metal. Don't expect the Gothenburg sound of In Flames on their later records though- this is feral and vicious. There are blast beats, thrash passages, solos and plenty of nasty noise.
 
You can pretty much pick out any track (running order be damned!) and enjoy- if you like Swe-Death. Advance track “Motordeath” is as good as any at a summing up- fast and furious with a huge dose of adrenaline. There is a surprising amount of depth over the course of the tracks here- “Ultra Faust” is dynamic and develops across its running time and elsewhere there is no shortage of slower pacing and, yes, melodic guitars. The song titles are uniformly excellent (“Full Metal Justice”! “Baptized In Violence”!) and there are nice touches that keep things interesting- things like the cowbell at the start (and later on) of “Scandinavian Satan” and the helter skelter riffage contained therein.
 
The record, overall, is a good mix of Entombed, Motorhead, The Haunted and even structural echoes of the best American thrash. There are no bad tracks, the production is great and you get ten tracks of high quality Scandinavian death metal. There is a lot to like here and I would urge all fans of the genre to give it a go- it's an engaging and weighty listen, without descending into dissonance or mindless blasting. Top quality death metal.
 
“Royal Destroyer” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: The Crown, "Cobra Speed Venom"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 16/03/2018

Label: Metal Blade Records

After years of struggling to compete with their own legacy, The Crown are sounding inspired and in excellent form again on ‘Cobra Speed Venom’. The barely-contained frenetic energy of the band’s best work are here, and the riffs are, on the whole, more engaging than anything the band has come up with in the last 15 years.

‘Cobra Speed Venom’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. Destroyed By Madness

2. Iron Crown

3. In the Name of Death

4. We Avenge!

5. Cobra Speed Venom

6. World War Machine

7. Necrohammer

8. Rise In Blood

9. Where My Grave Shall Stand

10. The Sign of the Scythe

11. Nemesis Diamond (bonus track)

12. The Great Dying (bonus track)

The Review:

The path that has led The Crown to their new album ‘Cobra Speed Venom’ hasn’t been an easy one. After disbanding in 2004 following touring difficulties and frustrations following the previous year’s ‘Possessed 13’, the band’s members found themselves in an uphill battle to come up with an engaging sound in the years that followed. Several new bands, a renaming, and then return albums in 2010 and 2015 saw success to varying degrees, but nothing that quite captured the magic of the band at its peak. ‘Doomsday King’ and ‘Death Is Not Dead’ were solid albums in and of themselves, but they understandably fell short of the tremendous standards set by the albums the band released from 1998 to 2002.

After years of struggling to compete with their own legacy, The Crown are sounding inspired and in excellent form again on ‘Cobra Speed Venom’. The barely-contained frenetic energy of the band’s best work are here, and the riffs are, on the whole, more engaging than anything the band has come up with in the last 15 years.

The album’s first single, “Iron Crown”, is the kind of quintessential stormer that was the band’s hallmark during their best years. The death metal on tap here has a lot of the same speed metal sensibility that fueled albums like ‘Hell is Here’ or ‘Crowned In Terror’. That sensibility is even more pronounced on “In The Name of Death”, and it’s a great joy to hear The Crown using that aspect of their sound so well after so many years. And that’s not even mentioning the tremendous guitar solo work as well. Those fiery solos have always been a part of what made The Crown so great, but it’s all the more meaningful when they’re the icing on the cake for songs that are this good.

New drummer Henrik Axelsson fits in remarkably well, considering how deeply rooted Janne Saarenpää’s style had been to The Crown’s musical identity. It essentially makes for a seamless transition, which felt like an impossibility from the outside looking in, back when Saarenpää announced his departure from the band back in 2014.

‘Cobra Speed Venom’ isn’t a perfect return to form, as some of the album’s slower moments still tend to be missing something, but the bulk of the album sees the band firing on all cylinders. It makes for a satisfying redemption story for a band that has struggled to regain their footing. At their best, there’s nothing quite like The Crown. They have a unique musical personality, and it’s wonderful to see that finally shining through again. ‘Cobra Speed Venom’ is an album that would have made me happy as a follow up to ‘Crowned in Terror’ nearly 15 years ago. It makes me even happier now.

‘Cobra Speed Venom’ is available digitally here and on CD/LP copy here

Band info: Official Site || Facebook