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Fifth full-length for these Swedish guys who got lumped in with the Gothernburg scene when they never really deserved it. The Crown, now sadly split up, were purveyors of an energetic Death/Thrash hybrid that never failed to satisfy. "Crowned In Terror" is no exception.

It's no surprise that The Crown recruited former At The Gates screamer Tomas Lindberg for the vocals on this CD, as musically The Crown are pretty similar to the vibrant power ATG displayed on their "Slaughter Of The Soul" album. I have to say, though, that there is nothing in the way of Entombed ripoff here, as there was with "Slaughter". "Crowned In Terror gives us a short intro track and then cranks up the savagery with the awesome title track. The cool thing about The Crown is that they aren't just brutal, and they know how to write a kick-ass metal riff. They never succumb to either the blur of Gothenburger mush or the clickety-clickety bass drum abuse that a lot of US-style Death Metal bands fall back on. The Crown keep things chunky, riffy, and fast, with careening, tasty leadwork that brings to mind Vital Remains at times. Other kill cuts include "Under The Whip", "World Below", "The Speed Of Darkness", "Death Is The Hunter' and "Satanist"—in other words, half the damned tracklist just slays. Some of the songs are not as good, but they are still good.

If I had to pick one drawback here, it would be this: Tomas Lindberg. I know he has this storied rep as the God of screamers, but I have never liked his vocals, and I find them just tolerable here. Mostly he just distracts me from the cool guitarwork with his out-of-tune yapping. Lots of people like him, and if you're one of them then you will like this CD even more than I do.

Despite killer discs like this one and "Deathrace King" The Crown never really broke big, and I guess they just had enough, as they recently announced their breakup. But at least they made it this far, and left us killer fucking slabs of thrashing death like "Crowned In Terror". Fans of bands like God Dethroned or At The Gates should not pass up The Crown.