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Six years since The Crown came roaring back from the doldrums with the high-octane fury of Cobra Speed Venom. Their immediate follow-up to that one, Royal Destroyer, was good but not as good, and now we have their twelfth full-length album in their decades-long career.

Named for the band's original moniker, Crown of Thorns is a blazing, murderous workout in the propulsive Death/Thrash this band produce when they are on their game. This album features the welcome return of original guitarist Marcus Sunesson, who hasn't played on an album by The Crown since Doomsday King way back in 2010. It may be his presence that injects more hooky melodies and more musically ambitious compositions into this, creating an album that's heavy and aggressive but also has more to keep you interested than that. This is that classic Crown blend of Death fury and hooky melodic Thrash, and if it won't make your head flail, then I don't know what you are even doing here.