Album
Type:
Full
Length
Date
Released: June 15th 2015
Label:
Candlelight
Records
The
Fifth Element - Track Listing:
1 Serpents - ( feat
Neige / Alcest )
2 The Words You
Speak Are Not Your Own - ( feat Frederyk Rotter / Zatokrev )
3 Wings Beating Over
Heaven - ( feat Michiel Eikenaar/Nihill - Neige/Alcest )
4 Fossils - ( feat
Khvost/Grave pleasures ex Beastmilk )
5 Apnea
6 Tension Of Duality
- ( feat Frederyk Rotter/Zatokrev )
7 Flames
Band
Members
Stephane Azam :
Guitars, Machines, Vocals
Frederyk Rotter :
Guitars, Vocals
Pascal Guth :
Guitars
Bio:
Hailing from France,
C R O W N, are three men and a machine who tune their neutron guitars
to the Richter scale, and deliver the sound of a molten universe
collapsing. Touching on early Isis, Godflesh, Floor and even Killing
Joke, C R O W N explore the depths of slow tempos on their debut
album, The One, and their split EP with St Valley through sheer
exuberant heaviness.
The trio’s
depth-charging guitars and buried melodic tendencies snake around
hissing electronics, a tribal / military percussive thwack, and the
splashing cymbals of a minimal-yet-completely-effective drum-machine.
Their sound is further emboldened by a massive bestial roar, heavy
and oppressive, leading to an abyss of nothingness…. Welcome to the
dark, spiraling, and obscure experiments of C R O W N.
Since January 2014,
Frederyk Rotter from Zatokrev joined forces for a three piece
crushing live act.
Review:
Combining
metal with electronic elements is a tricky business that often ends
in tears. There have been some notable triumphs in this area, namely
projects involving Justin Broadrick, but these are greatly
outnumbered by embarrassing failures. French trio CROWN are a band
that sit firmly in the “triumph” category.
On
paper, their combination of heavy riffs with periods of melodic calm
sounds like any post-metal band, but CROWN’s execution really sets
them apart. Quiet/loud dynamics are a commonly-used tool of the trade
but CROWN have gone a step further on “Natron” with strong usage
of quiet/REALLY LOUD dynamics. The opening riff of “Serpents”
kicks the listener straight in the gut with a distortion tone that
feels like wading through tar whilst retaining a buzzing sharpness.
This intensity is present through all of the loud sections of the
album and is most potent during the gut-churning crawl of “Tension
of Duality”. Playing this over the mechanistic thud of a drum
machine gives the music an unrelenting heaviness, freed from the
limitations of puny human drumming. Quieter passages with subtle
electronic overtones break up the noise, giving an overall sound that
brings to mind A Storm of Light if they had been given a robotic
combat upgrade.
“Fossils”
provide a welcome chance to catch your breath in the middle of
“Natron”. Free of distortion, the track has a post-punk feel
propelled by driving basslines and a considerable increase in tempo
from the surrounding torpor. It offers a stark contrast to the rest
of the album but feels a little too polished to completely work.
CROWN shake things up to better effect on finale, “Flames”. A
brooding slow-burner, it begins with sparse piano and keyboards
before distortion slowly creeps back in, albeit in a more muted and
controlled fashion than the bludgeoning elsewhere. This track ends
the album in fine style and gives an idea of other sonic avenues the
band could explore on later releases.
By
stretching all of the constituent elements of a post-metal band to
their extremes and setting them against an electronic backdrop, CROWN
have created a very distinctive sound. “Natron” breathes life
into a genre that can be a bit stale and does so in considerable
style.can't wait to get my hands on the double gatefold LP. Be
thankful that music like this is being made again.
Words
by Charlie Butler
Thanks
To Darren at Candlelight Records for the promo. Natron will be
available to buy now on CD/DD from
Candlelight Records.
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