The Crown blaspheme at the speed of darkness with a returning member that makes this album one of the band’s best ever.
Release date: October 11, 2024 | Metal Blade Records | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Stream/Purchase
I’m not a big sports guy, but this occasion reminds me of when a big sports team loses their best player to a trade, the one that’s won them some championships and gotten them very close several other times. The team still does well, but there’s a clear missing magic with that star player gone that people can’t help but notice. They go through the motions, doing their collective thing to pretty decent effect, until one day when that player returns to the team to great fanfare. It’s been some time though – what are they all capable of now, and is the chemistry still there?
To me, this is exactly what The Crown have endured over the last decade-plus. Losing guitarist Marcus Sunneson in 2012 showed a noticeable decline in the band’s memorability of their output. Death Is Not Dead was all right, and while I liked Cobra Speed Venom and Royal Destroyer, they were missing the writing and performance highs that classics like Deathrace King, Crowned In Terror/Crowned Unholy, and Possessed 13 offered. But he’s back and the Swedish melodeath/thrash metal quintet are now whole again, bolstered by new drummer Mikael Norén for a more punk feel. Crown Of Thorns feels celebratory in that sense, even having ‘crown’ in the title as if to reference those glory days from the 2000s as well as their own name and how this album was intended to be statement of completeness, that this is THEE Crown, a full-powered pulverizing force of Swedish metal. Real fans and day-oners also know this band originally went by the name Crown Of Thorns during their early years in the ’90s, another full-circle indicator that the band is back to their old ways.
All that said, it’s good that the band looked backwards in pretty limited, focused ways. This album still feels new in the sense that their increased production values over the years are retained here and life has certainly been breathed into the energy they exude, but they are still undoubtedly, unquestionably The Crown, for better or worse. For me, it’s better – they are one of the most consistent bands out there in their genre and it’s great to have someone dependable like them still kicking serious ass whenever they come along. Crown Of Thorns does just that, though maybe you wouldn’t guess that from the singles. Although “Churchburner” was a good return after some years away, it’s ultimately one of the weakest tracks on this whole album. “Gone To Hell” is much better with an ominous, bass-focused intro and more deliberation with its execution. Often, I find that when The Crown slow down a bit and get more atmospheric and cinematic with things, it’s almost always a great hit – think back to “World Below” or maybe the instrumental “Dream Bloody Hell”.
The deep cuts are where this album shines brighter than hellfire and what makes Crown Of Thorns an absolute must-listen for genre fans. Opener “I Hunt With The Devil” is a really good door-/dickkicker of an intro with burning riffs, some of the fastest playing on the whole album, and a darkly catchy hook. They haven’t changed at all. This is literally the band screaming ‘we’re back, motherfuckers‘ in the most lethal, Satanic fashion. I love Johan Lindstrand’s gritted singing here, his voice has remained so robust over the years. “Howling At The Warfield” is the feral melodeath yin to the previous track’s thrashy yang with agile fretwork and drums blasted and beaten to hell and back, but there’s a melodic line that the track mostly settles in that values subtlety more than others. A textbook example of the genre, but lacking something that pushes it over the edge to greatness. That’s fine because “God-King” is just two songs away in the tracklist and goddamn it goes hard. Very strong riffs upfront and all over the place along with a chorus that doesn’t quit make it memorable. This is up there with “I Hunt With The Devil” in intensity.
“Where Nightmares Belong” deserves a mention for being another calculated, catchy centerpiece of the album. The drumming of the beginning is impressive and fill-heavy, the bridge has me dancing around like Car Shearer, and it’s a song that actually gets more reserved the longer it goes on, ending with a haunting, serene guest vocal outro from singer Elina, a voice considerably more feminine and saccharine than Lindstrand’s. That all leads into what may be the best song on the album, “The Storm That Comes”. This is the comparatively massive ender standing at nearly 7:00 and it feels final, like the end of an arduous journey both sonically and thematically. I love the hook, ‘I’m crowned by thorns/My shadow lies in the devil’s grasp/I’m crowned by thorns/My blood on Lucifer’s face‘. The song’s movement from section to section with a strong melody in each one makes it hugely formidable among the band’s best songs ever, it’s just an absolute tour de force for The Crown.
There’s three bonus tracks on Crown Of Thorns and while I usually don’t pay much attention to those in reviews – I’d rather focus on the intended body of work presented to me – my hand is forced because they’re awesome tracks that should have been fit onto the actual album or maybe even subbed out others on the tracklist. “Eternally Infernal” flirts with black metal intensity and once again the hook rips (‘Eternally infernal/Eternal fucking death!/Eternally infernal/’Til the final breath!‘), “No Fuel for God” is one of the most melodically impressive songs here (this should have been a lead single!), and “Mind Collapse” is an explosive tirade bold enough to go toe-to-toe with other similar tracks on here. I get bonus tracks are rarely a creative decision, mostly spurred on by the more corporatized facets of music-making, but wow, it made for some missed opportunities in the album’s whole. I’m still glad to have them though as they’re not throwaways as they often are.
Crown Of Thorns likely won’t win over any new fans unless there’s thrashy melodic death metal fans out there who somehow haven’t heard of The Crown until now, but this is absolutely their intention. They have never, ever faltered in style, only occasionally in overall quality, and even then they’ve remained remarkably consistent for a band their age (nearly 35 years – that’s how old I am!). With Sunneson back, they feel more focused and imbued with a moxie they arguably haven’t had for over ten years. Peel back its edginess (or revel in it if you like it) and settle into the exemplary performances and writing above all. I love this band and they have yet to produce something that made me question that.
Band photo by Daniel Johansson
