Sweden’s The Crown have always been one of the more exciting a dynamic bands of their time. While their peers were getting caught up in progressive experimentation, these guys were writing ripping death-thrash songs about drag-racing with Satan and burying posers alive. Now, The Crown have announced their tenth full-length album, and it looks as though the band haven’t dulled their edge with age.
The Crown’s tenth album will be called Royal Destroyer, and drops March 12th via Metal Blade. The record was recorded at Gothenburg’s infamous Studio Fredman alongside Fredrik Nordström, whose production credits include At The Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul and Arch Enemy’s Wages of Sin.
According to bassist Magnus Olsfelt, “It is our album number ten, so now we are in the big boys club. I think it in some ways is our crowning achievement, and it encompasses our sound across all albums on one defining record. It’s got it all – the early 90s death metal stuff, the haunting melodies, the thrash, the punk, the grind, the heavy metal and the more epic and doomy stuff.
“We push ourselves to the limit, really trying to make everything as good as it can get, trying to make every song as impactful as possible,” Olsfelt adds. “We have some of the most intense stuff ever, like one song is about one minute long, and we also have a ballad!”
Alongside the announcement, The Crown have also released their first single “Motordeath,” and man does it deliver. Fast, merciless, and loaded with lyrics about racetracks, pain, and arrogance, the song is everything fans want from the band. The moments of minor-chord anguish included throughout only add to the momentum of the track. If you’re going to release a song with a name that seems to reference Kill ‘Em All, it better rage, and this one never lets up for a second.
Check out The Crown’s “Motordeath” below:
The Crown’s Royal Destroyer drops March 12th via Metal Blade, and is available for preorder.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
