The Crown - Hell Is Here
Metal Blade
Blackened Death/Thrash Metal
11 songs (47:09)
Release year: 0
The Crown, Metal Blade
Reviewed by Thomas
Archive review

During their somewhat short-lived career, The Crown managed to establish themselves as one of the, if not the best, Scandinavian Death/Thrash Metal band ever. This is their first release under The Crown (previously Crown Of Thorns) brand, and they more than manage to light a hell-blazing fire on your ass. They drag you down, deeper still, in the colors of hell, far beyond the black horizon, beyond the things you know. With twisted screams, tortured and fast riffs and hyper-fast drumming they bring us hell. Hell is here.

The Crown are really in for the kill this time and Johan Lindstrom’s insane screams are as grinding and evil as ever. A criminally underrated vocalist that rips the guts out of most Gothenburg vocalists with ease. His tortured voice reaps the harvest of screaming sacrifice, creating energy, aggression and simply adding something instantly recognizable. He’s constantly spitting out rebellious lyrics over Marko Tevronen and Marcus Sunneson’s thunderous and death-paced riffs. Janne’s ultra-fast and precise drumming is overly impressing, never leaving any empty space for breaks. Hellsmith Henrik Larson has done an excellent job forging this release into a deadly, monstrous heaven-shattering release. Hell Is Here is a little different from their later releases. It is, as usual, more or less killer death/thrash metal; however, this does contain influences from the melodeath scene, punk rock, heavy metal, and a little black metal. Give You Hell is pretty much the closest you’ll get to melodic death metal here. The ripping guitar harmonies are clearly audible, and the chanting choruses are very catchy and perfect for sing-along’s. There is a good deal of guitar solos here too, and Sunesson executes them with extreme speed and skill. The punk rockish Electric Night is a pleasant surprise, with an opening riff that is suspiciously similar to Iron Maiden’s Sanctuary. Lindstrand squeezes in as many evil words as he can, never letting go of the tight stranglehold. In fact, I think the guys themselves are best at describing their style:

Blasting at Motorspeed, Like Iron Angels on the lead/
Loudest shit you’ve ever heard/
You’re screaming out the soul inside/
No future baby, we’re going down/
But I’ll always remember those electric nights/
God shock. Demon rush/
Electric Mind/
Come and let the devil in honey/
Let him in!/
And let’s raise some hell tonight, Let us fucking burn!/

The cover art reveals what you’re getting here. Burning, satanic and sinful metal that is out to slit your throat with razor sharp precision. There is not one dull moment on this disc, and as the lyrics on The Devil and The Darkness so directly describes, this is all about death, hell and Satan. Yes the lyrics may be a little overkill sometimes, but they’re really just brutally fun. The Crown has the ability to clutch your attention, tighten the grip, and to leave marks. After you’ve spun this one time, you’ll want more, and the only album able to slay this monster is their very own Deathrace King

Killing Songs :
All
Thomas quoted 92 / 100
Other albums by The Crown that we have reviewed:
The Crown - Royal Destroyer reviewed by Ben and quoted 76 / 100
The Crown - Doomsday King reviewed by Thomas and quoted 83 / 100
The Crown - The Burning reviewed by Thomas and quoted 80 / 100
The Crown - Deathrace King reviewed by Thomas and quoted 94 / 100
The Crown - Crowned Unholy reviewed by Jay and quoted no quote
To see all 8 reviews click here
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There are 2 replies to this review. Last one on Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:57 pm
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