Crown Magnetar offers a break in brutality with this new EP.
A year and a half after their last release, 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) unveil Punishment in collaboration with Unique Leader Records.
Barbed Wire Noose doesn’t waste a single second, nailing us to the floor with its devastating riffs coupled with Dan‘s savage howls, offering a jerky or rather dark Old School touch depending on the moment. The heavy breaks sound like veritable declarations of war for the pit, which can barely breathe before Nailed the Fuck Down rolls over it in turn with a pachydermic rhythm launched at full speed, but also a few strident harmonics. The band gives it all they’ve got on this track, then lets us get back up before crushing us a third time with Bringer of Dead Light, which doesn’t hold back either, offering massive riffs complemented by some majestic keyboards and an unexpected solo. The fury obviously follows closely, leading into Decapitation Ritual, where the musicians don’t wait to unleash their instruments’ full power, whether at high speed or on the slower, heavier passages that alternately molest us.
With each release, Crown Magnetar redouble their ardor to offer us even more crushing, savage and darker violence. Despite its short length, Punishment immediately takes its place among the best releases of the year.
95/100