Review by Michael on September 22, 2024.

Swedish death-thrash legends The Crown are back with their 12th regular studio album. With this one, they go way far back into their own past simply using their previous band name as album title. Not only that but also the cover is kind of retro on Crown Of Thorns. Where the previous album cover was colorful and some kind of epic, what you can find here is some kind of dreary, apocalyptic black-and-white painting. Might this be some anticipation towards what will come out of my stereo? Well, not at all. You can be relieved that the Swedes only changed their sound in nuances.

Already the opener 'I Hunt With The Devil' is a sheer blast beat inferno with unerring death metal outbursts and furious vocals. This one is a straight continuation of 'Baptized In Violence' from its brutal predecessor Royal Destroyer from 2021. Hunting season is opened, so come and join them!! But apart from the substantial death metal influences, also some progressive, slight psychedelic parts crept into the song so that this one becomes a really interesting opener that makes you long for more. 'Martyrian' is another slight different track, at least at the beginning. First of all I thought this would turn out into a thrash song á la old Metallica but like a whirlwind this thought was blown away after a few seconds. Here you have the typical The Crown-riffing, melodic and repetitive but at no point boring. Okay, now really a not-so-typical one 'Gone To Hell' starts very creepy and dark and doesn't speed up. The decent to hell is a slow and gloomy ride, underlined with whispered words and because all good guys go to hell, also with some epic melodies and keyboard layers. Although this one isn't a typical The Crown track, it fully unfolds its effect - a cool new band anthem! And because The Crown never shied extremes, 'Howling At The Warfield' is a stark contrast to that. This is probably one of the most diverse and fastest songs on the album and doesn't leave any time to rest first. Blasting relentlessly forward, the listener is sent on the warfield to escape the rattling crossfire that comes from everywhere. But after a while some cool Maiden-licks and other NWoBHM influences appear in the background and make the wild hunt a little bit more multidimensional. With 'The Agitator' the guys did their “Reign In Blood” or “Flag Of Hate”, I guess. This one is brutal thrash kicking in your face. Of course the vocals go more into death metal but with the gang shouts and the fast and simplified riffing this one might also be originally done by some thrash legends from the 80s. Oh, and I forgot the Deicide-homage 'Churchburner'. Check the chorus and tell me that they didn't ehm borrow that from “Once Upon The Cross”. “Fear him, fear him…”. But don´t get me wrong, this one is another sinister death-thrash attack without anything to criticize.

I can assure you that you will be fully satisfied with Crown Of Thorns if you like the other stuff by the guys. Maybe here and there is the one or the other surprise that you might not have expected but all in all it is a very good new album. But you should check if you could get the version with the three bonus songs 'Eternally Infernal', 'No Fuel For God' (understandable considering the fuel price these days) and 'Mind Collapse'. They are all really cool tracks too and not like it happens often, some boring filler shit.

So let the hunt begin – see you on the warfield!

Rating: 9 out of 10 empty petrol canisters for God