The Crown continues to march.
Created in 1990 under the name of Crown of Thorns, the band releases two albums then changes its name, with also a year as Dobermann between 2008 and 2009. About the line-up, Marko Tervonen (guitar, Lady Mourning) and Magnus Olsfelt (bass) are here since the band’s beginning, and even if Johan Lindstrand (vocals, ex-One Man Army and the Undead Quartet) left some years ago, he is back since 2011. Robin Sörqvist (guitar, Impious) and Henrik Axelsson (drums, Implode) respectively joined in 2013 and 2016 after a moment as touring members.
What could be a best album opener than a catchy and fast song? Baptized in Violence perfectly takes over this role with a hooking groove, sharp melodies and energetic screams. Let the Hammering Begin! immediately comes next, bringing bloody riffs in an aggressive and very effective Death/Thrash spirit, while sharp melodies turn around us. The song is longer than the previous one, allowing the band to alternate fast parts with devilish solos and groovy moments, then Motordeath comes back to make us headbang with an uncompromised introduction. The band bluntly throws us in the middle of an unstoppable crowd, that won’t stop moving for Ultra Faust. If the song slows the pace down a bit, it is still terribly catchy and axed on a Thrash pattern, to which the band adds Death Metal’s heaviness. Some darker parts are added to the rhythmic, offering black leads, like on the melancholic Glorious Hades. The song is slower but still as seizing, mainly thanks to the alchemy between harmonics and thick rhythmic.
We come back to those oozing riffs of energy and rage for Full Metal Justice, a fast song with explosive harmonics, offering a perfect basis for the singer’s howlings and some screamed backing vocals. Scandinavian Satan is next, and appears as one of the most Punkish song the band composed, while keeping an important fix of raw energy, and a chorus we already want to sing along on the first row of a show, then Devoid of Light comes to darken the horizon. Old School tones graft themselves to the band’s aggressive and bloody melting, that doesn’t hesitate to add some Black Metal influences to its music. We Drift On goes back to those soaring Melodic Death Metal basis that we know from the band for what seems to be an airy ballad, of which intensity slowly increases until the final chorus, that allow us to breath before Beyond the Frail, the last song. A true riff tornado falls upon us, between a heady tapping, an effective rhythmic and a vocalist that outperforms himself, offering an incredibly effective final!
Effectiveness is the watchword of The Crown’s Melodic Death/Thrash. Royal Destroyer offers ten tracks of explosive violence, that perfectly know how to balance between raw tones and polished leads. Live shows will be bloody!
85/100
