A rather intricate band of the Swedish death metal scene is the one called The Crown. Carrying a history of at least 10 years upon their backs The Crown are ready to shake the crowds with their fifth album Crowned In Terror (released in April 8 in Europe, April 9 in U.S.A).

Darkness and violence delineate these eleven tracks of terror that seem to consume any living soul at their hearing. Multifarious guitar riffs, spread like rapid fire over the whole album, with some interludes of melodic passages, and a quite good quality production are the jewels that adorn The Crown' s latest death-thrash release.

How The Crown approach metal is evident by the many references to diverse extreme metal bands; their influences derive from bands like In Flames, Slayer, Sepultura, as well as black metal bands, and others from the entire spectrum of metal.

Yet, no matter how forceful and aggressive this album may be, it lacks personality and in some parts it is confined to reproduction of riffs that have been played before.

Furthermore I am not aware whether The Crown wanted to pay tribute to the television series of the 80s Knight Rider (you know, the one with Mr. Baywatch and a speaking black car named K.I.T) by attaching its theme- which by the way fitted in perfectly- into The Speed Of Darkness (track 6), or if they just liked how it sounded...! Anyway they could do better than that!

Another query that I have is why - even though they have a quite nice artwork - they had to borrow Venom's logo (and designating it as Crenom design). A band with such potentials should make a logo of its own (consistent with my humble opinion).

Anyway, enough with my babbling! All of you who indulge in the ferocity of a Death, multifaceted metal band like The Crown will certainly like Crowned In Terror.

In any case one thing is for sure; The Crown is full of thorns ready to impale anyone who decides to wear it upon his head!!!