2023 marks the release of Crown Magnetar‘s second album.
After a debut full-length in 2021, Dan Tucker (vocals, And Hell Followed With), Byron London (drums, And Hell Followed With), Nick Burnett (guitar, And Hell Followed With) and Grant Robinson (bass, ex-Widowmaker) sign with Unique Leader Records for the release of Everything Bleeds.
The band immediately anchors itself in darkness and heaviness with Nail Funeral, the first track, which places a massive jerky sound accompanied by scathing harmonics and demonic howls. The band is also capable of devastating acceleration on top of its apocalyptic mospharts, as on the explosive Hex ov Hate, which again strengthens the mammoth strikes with heavy riffs. The vocal parts also accentuate the chaotic and oppressive atmosphere the band feeds before offering us a brief soothing breeze with the melancholic sound of the introduction to The Level Beneath, which quickly gives way to raw power. The piercing lead parts develop epic sonorities that perfectly accompany the orchestrations’ threatening approach while the vocalist pours out all his hatred to Everything Bleeds, the eponymous track, reviving the energetic tones with a frantic rhythm in all circumstances. The band still integrates the suffocating elements before letting Unholy Neck Stab take over with a similar striking power, mixing all the most violent elements possible. Only The Spine Remains kicks into high gear again, giving the moshparts a devastating addition of heaviness and intensity, but The Killing Stone already takes over, adding the relentless onslaught its dissonant aspect which happily molesting us. If you were hoping for softness in the first few seconds of Dead Season, you’re in for a disappointment, as the band quickly stuns us with an impactful dry groove before giving way to Despised From Seed, which doesn’t hesitate to draw on its most complex and unbridled influences to punctuate this storm of virulence that’s as black as it is effective. A few ethereal tones join the break, then Prismtic Tomb brings the album to a close with a surfeit of devastating violence, but also a few surprises like this dissonant solo and the soothing break from which only roars still stand out, before haunting tones and gripping choruses accompany us to the final.
If you hadn’t already figured it out, Crown Magnetar has one of the most powerful sounds of the year, coupling monstrous vocal parts with an incredibly technical and heavy rhythm section. Everything Bleeds is a game-changer.
95/100