SVART CROWN is a Black/Death Metal band formed in France in 2004. Since 2008, the band has been pretty productive, releasing five full-length albums up through 2020. Now, they return with their latest EP, titled "Les terres brulées." The EP contains five songs. "Geoulah" is the first. The sound is a raging combination of Black and Death Metal, with brutal and harrowing leanings. The vocals are done with backing tracks, made to sound deep and frightening. The title track is another punishing affair, with plenty of heavy accents in the rhythm. The sound backs off at the half-way point, to clean guitars and eerie leads, slowly gathering steam with vocal chants, headed for a climatic ending.

"Digitalis Purpurea" is thicker with chaos. The structures are somewhat blurred with deadly lawlessness and disorder, but the laden sound comes through like a steam engine barreling over snowy tracks. The skeletal conductor hangs out the window, laughing like a madman possessed. "Cavalier noir" is a short, three-minute blast of energy and enthusiasm. The guitars build layers as thick as concrete, along with a mesmerizing rhythm. There are so many complimentary rhythms in the song that they are hard to count. "An Open Heart" closes the album; the longest song on the EP. It opens with melancholic tones and a sense of desperation feeling. Heavy rhythms follow, and you can feel the subject's pain, as if he were screaming aloud, but he stays silent in the shadows. Drums thunder away in double time as the sound picks up. It continues forward with more layers to a climactic finish.

This was a strong EP with a lot going on. Although the Death and Black Metal roots are firm, the band is not afraid to put their own personality into the album. For a band that has been around as long as these guys have, I am impressed with their songwriting and vision. They have a great sense of timing when it comes to unleashing the Kraken so to speak. The command, might, and power of the album is what really makes it as good as it is.