The Crown - Crowned in Terror

Rodrigo

Heat in 7
Apr 17, 2001
883
3
18
Southern California
THE CROWN – CROWNED IN TERROR
Metal Blade - 2002

By Rodrigo

When Tomas Lindberg joined The Crown after Johan Lindstrand left the band, my anticipation for this album was absolutely huge. Nothing against Johan, an excellent singer, but I had only heard Tomas in "Devil Gate Ride" from Deathrace King since the At the Gates breakup and I just couldn’t wait to hear an entire album with him at the vocals. Yes, Tomas has been with other bands since but I haven’t had the chance to listen to any of those.

So what has this powerful combination created? At this point, Crowned in Terror is the best death/extreme metal release of the year! Just like Deathrace King this album is another unrelenting, brutal and non-stop aural attack by The Crown. In fact, Crowned in Terror is the Swedes finest and strongest album to date.

From beginning to end, there is not one bad song and once "Death Metal Holocaust" is over you give a sigh of relief and immediately you want to start the album again. This last song features Johan dueling it out with Tomas and its totally cool to hear them battle it out. One of the strongest elements is the drumming of Janne Saarenpää that is absolutely mind-blowing and extremely loud in the mix. In "Under the Whip", Janne is all over the place and plays at an absolutely insane speed. The guitars of Marko Tervonen and Marcus Sunesson are amazing as usual especially in this song, where there are some great leads to be found especially the last one.

What Crowned in Terror also manages to do very well is incorporating musical ideas from other musical genres, giving the songs a lot of diversity. "Out for Blood" has a total punk feeling, "Death is the Hunter" is a super charged and melodious song that sounds like a melodic death metal song injected with steroids, and "The Speed of Darkness" is an intense thrash inspired song. The coolest thing about it is the instrumental section that starts at 2:15 and it totally sounds like the theme song from the "Knight Rider" television show. "World Below" is not only the longest and "slowest" song found in the album but it is also extremely catchy, especially the chorus. It is definitely a different song but a highly enjoyable one.

With this release The Crown should appeal to all fans of extreme and aggressive metal music. It’s the perfect album to bang your head, raise your fists high and proudly proclaim, "This is why I listen to metal!!"

Metal Blade Website
The Crown Official Website
 
Great reveiw, this album smokes from start to finish. It's incredible, but Rodrigo if you haven't heard The Great Deceiver yet, you must get it from trustkill records, its only a mcd but it takes the metal/core genre to another level. They should have a full length out this year.
 
Tomas shows he can still spill his guts like any other to me "Drugged Unholy" is one of the Crowns best songs to date although it does not have any cool leads ,It is fucking amazing