CROWN, THE „Crowned Unholy”

Genre: Death/Thrash
www.thecrownonline.com

It seems that ‘The Crown’ were not all that impressed with their initial recording of 2002’s ‘Crowned in Terror’. Quite strange really, considering that most metal folk held it in rather high regard. The presence of one Tomas Lindberg on vocals was the clincher in most punters eyes. Still, it seems that ‘CIT’ never actually reached a point where the band was satisfied with it. Exhausted, over budget, and completely fed up with the whole thing, The Crown decided to release it, flawed as it was. They then refused to listen to it.

Personally, I thought ‘CIT’ was a killer disc, yet it always seemed misplaced in the bands catalogue due to the Lindberg vocals (who replaced original frontman Johan Lindstrand). With Lindstrand returning for 2003’s ‘Possessed 13’, and the continued dissatisfaction with the whole ‘CIT’ recording, the opportunity arose, not only for the band to re-record ‘CIT’ with Lindstrand on vocals, but to finally twist and tweak the whole album in an effort to unleash ‘CIT’ as it should have appeared in the first place.

So as a new release, this is not actually anything new hey? There are certainly few thousand punters out there scratching their heads in confusion as to the whole point of this release. And really, it appears that the release of ‘Crowned Unholy’ is more about appeasing band member satisfaction than anything else. I’m not sure how much Metal Blade forked out for the end result of ‘CU’, but as shrewd business people they must think it’s worth it. I’m not that convinced.

As a major fan on this band over the past 14 years, I would probably fork out my hard earned for this release. However, if you’re not an absolute die-hard ‘The Crown’ fan and already have a copy of the original ‘CIT’ sitting around in your collection, un-played for the past two years, I doubt that the release of ‘CU’ will entice you to do the same. There are no new songs on this album – just re-recordings with their original vocalist. And as hard as the guys have undoubtedly worked on making some changes to the sound of ‘CIT’, personally it’s all minor cosmetic fluff rather than anything earth-shatteringly different. For the record, ‘CU’ features re-recorded bass tracks from Magnus, a new version of the intro (originally written by Marko, now programmed by Janne) and a digitally enhanced drum sound. Overall, the whole thing sounds a tad thicker and more in tune with the ‘core’ Crown sound.
The only other possible reason why some of you will want to pick this up is to witness the band in full flight on the bonus 14 track Live DVD. I’ve never seen ‘The Crown’ play live, so this disc is truly THE bonus for me. Recorded live in a dingy pub in Karlsruhe, Germany (Nov 2003), this disc is at least gives you some excellent visuals of their death/thrash riffmiesters in Marcus Sunesson and Marko Tervonen, the hulking frontman in Johan Lindstrand and their ‘killer filler’ sticksman Janne Saarenpaa.

The booklet supplied with this disc is another bonus – excellent liner notes from all members give an additional insight to changes made to certain tracks. It’s probably a good thing they did this because most of the modifications are hard to spot by just listening to it. Of course, it’s a sad fact that ‘The Crown’ is no longer with us and I suppose as a parting shot ‘Crowned Unholy’ at least brings things full circle for the band. However for the fans, the bottom line remains: This is for ‘The Crown’ completists only.

note: 8/10

Tracklist

1. Introduction: House of Hades
2. Crowned in terror
3. Under the whip
4. Drugged unholy
5. World below
6. The speed of darkness
7. Out for blood
8. (I am) Hell
9. Death is the hunter
10. Satanist
11. Death metal holocaust

DVD:
1. No Tomorrow
2. Face of destruction/Deep hit of death
3. Deathexplosion
4. World below
5. Deliverance
6. Blitzkrieg Witchcraft
7. Cold is the grave
8. Zombiefied
9. Dream bloody hell / Kill `em all
10. Under the whip
11. Bow to none
12. Total Satan
13. House of Hades / Crowned in terror
14. 1999-Revolution 666