The Crown – Crown Of Thorns (Review)

The Crown, one of the most reliable swedish death metal bands, releases their eleventh studio record entitled Crown Of Thorns and the question may be if it can live up to the bands illustrous back catalogue that served few genre classics such as Deathrace King or Crowned In Terror.

Being confronted with numerous line-up changes througout the years, The Crown are now back with more or less their original line up around vocalist Johan Lindstrand, guitarist Marko Tervonen and Magnus Olsfelt on bass, supported by longtime members Henrik Axelsson on drums and Robin Sörqvist on second guitar, releasing the follow up to the generally well-received Royal Destroyer in 2021.

When looking at the band’s catalogue Crown Of Thorns serves as a rather unique album, as the usual full – throttle approach of glorious blast attacks has been toned down a bit to make room for more anthemic and melodic material such as the catchy “Martyrian”, the death and roll approach of “Gone To Hell” (Entombed anyone?) or the infectious “The Night Is Now”. Here the leads are even more prominent than usual and when Tervonen and Sörqvist trade off their signature patterns the songs may even recall old In Flames (particularly the first-mentioned track). Make no mistake though. The Crown are still far more aggressive than their fellow swedish genre-mates.

This also has to do with the great performance of long-time frontman Johan Lindstrand who has not lost a step and sounds like a lower register version of Tompa Lindberg in his prime, delivering sharp screams and growls as well as one could call ear-worm refrains and the ever battering assault of Axelsson on drums. Just check out the ripping opener “I Hunt With The Devil” or the straight and punishing cuts such as “Howling At The Warfield” or “The Agitator”.

“The Storm That Comes” also deserves a special mention as the regular album closer, excluding the great three bonus tracks, shows a more progressive side of The Crown that also brings fresh ideas to the table with a more laid-back tempo and anthemic chorus lines taking the center throughout its 7 minute runtime.

In total The Crown offer a more than worthy addition to their high quality discography with Crown Of Thorns (the band’s initial name) that does not shy away from trying new things in the songwriting department while still maintaining the bands signature style of northern death-thrash aggression. Therefore the record serves as one of the most dynamic The Crown releases which should please everyone that is looking for a melodic, dynamic and ass-kicking death metal.