ALBUM REVIEW: Crown Of Thorns – The Crown

THE CROWN have been pumping out thrash infused death metal for just over 25 years, and while they do have a small six-year gap in their history as a band, they’ve never really taken a misstep within that time. On their 12th studio output, do the Swedes still have anything left in the tank? 

Album opener I Hunt With The Devil wastes no time as it immediately hits you with a tidal wave of blast beats from drummer Mikael Noren after a small build up with the razor-sharp vocals from Johan Lindstrand backing up the rear with not only some small prog elements, but if you listen closely, there are some psychedelic influences in there under the surface that makes it a song to come back to itch that scratch. 

Churchburner, while slower than you’d think to start, picks the speed up as guitar duo Marko Tervonen and Marcus Sunesson set their hands and fretboards ablaze, much like the church they yearn to burn. Then from that point on, the album dips really and doesn’t find the momentum to climb back to the peaks it starts on. Gone To Hell, while very THE CROWN, feels like a B-side filler song, which is insulting to Eternally Infernal as it’s been relegated to a bonus track. If you need your face melted that that’s the track for you. 

God-King is almost an impersonation of AT THE GATES, which is done well to carve their own road, but again, drops with the rest of the album. There are some good riffs here. Where The Nightmare Belongs has a killer riff but the song structure and wailing guitar solo makes it crumble faster than a biscuit left in your tea for too long. 

While it starts as a hopeful effort, Crown Of Thorns spends too long in the depths rather than the summits of where they’re usually akin to. If the bonus tracks were kept on the album and not as an extra, then maybe, just maybe it would be a different outcome for THE CROWN. 

Rating: 6/10

Crown Of Thorns is set for release on October 11th via Metal Blade Records. 

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