Artist: Night Crowned
Album: Impius Viam
Genre: Melodic Black / Thrash Metal
Country: Sweden
Release Date: 28th of February 2020
Released via Noble Demon
Cover Artwork © Noble Demon, 2020
Impius Viam is the full-length debut of Swedish Melodic Black / Thrash Metal band Night Crowned. The band was formed in 2016 already and released their first EP in 2018. Twelve tracks with a playtime of roughly 55 minutes found their way on the album.
My first contact with this album this time was while I was taking a walk. It was a little rainy outside, cold and windy, but I needed to move a little and I needed something that was gonna kick my ass. Alright, Melodic Black could be the right one. After a short intro, the album title track Impius Viam begins with bells, choir and an evil voice in the end, the first riff and especially the drums kicked ass. Singer K. Romlins first scream was convincing as well, and so they already got me before the second song “Reborn”.
During the next tracks I had some trouble with the sounds. It was hard to separate between keys, effects and the guitars. So it was one big knot of everything. I wasn’t sure if my headphones were the reason for that issue, but on speakers at home it wasn’t easy either to do so. It was a little better, but not as well executed as can be heard on tracks by Behemoth. Speaking of Behemoth, I think you can hear some connections between their latest outputs and this album.
Night Crowned have a very modern and digital sound in my opinion, which is not always to everybody’s favor. Listen to the drums for example. I really like the rolls, rhythms and blasts. Really great work by J. Jaloma, but a little less post-production and a little more natural sound would fit more to my preferences. What’s your opinion?
Nonetheless the band was able to create a great album, which seems to be somehow short although it runs for 55 minutes. That’s a good sign, I think. Meanwhile I listend to the record a few times and still can find some interesting spots to mention, as for example the acoustic guitar intro of “Black Bone Cross”. But in the end, the drums and vocals are the most important and remarkable parts of the music. Maybe the guitarwork could step into the forefront on the next record with a less muddy production. So thanks to K.Romlin and J.Jaloma (whom I saw with Dark Funeral in Essen a few weeks ago)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
7 / 10
Favorite tracks:
“Reborn”
“Ira”
As usual, we added the favorite track(s) to our Transcended Review Playlist 2020.
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