"Deathrace King"
Metal Blade
By Vinnie Apicella They put about an album's worth of aggression into one song… "Death Explosion!" What a powerful torrent that was! The Crown, still apparently feeding off of the power of recent successes since their quickstart early 90's beginning… well to say their revved up and ready to go here would be an understatement but I suppose it fits when you're dealing with an album called "Deathrace King." But they won't get an argument from me-I won't even wait till the disc's through playing, they get my vote! Track two, "Executioner: Slayer of the Light is another convincing display that speed is absolutely of the essence here-and I think they've created a new language in death metal all their own by adding an "ER" suffix to the words-"Executioner," Desecrator," "Violator," etc. "Back from the Grave" bleeds with a little of that melody the PR people wrote of and combined with the continued combustion that's blowing out the pipes, this one's a definite pick among the top three. "Devil Gate Ride," is another attempt at blowing away the competition before they've even made it to the starting gate… aha, that guitar shred-these guys are like Entombed times ten! Or more recently, fellow labelmates/countrymates Vermin-just add a little octane boost and there you've got something to draw up against! I think I like this one better than "Hell is Here," their first for Metal Blade a couple years back-there's not a whole lot of variation or dare I say "progression" since that time, and that was a quality album, the song's here just tend to stick with ya better. "Vengeance" turns up the vocal juice while downshifting a notch in approaching this death alley curve here, while "Rebel Angel," makes great use of a gear-jammin' guitar groove before putting the pedal to the floor and blasting away! Ever since I've heard this Power from the North compilation that features today's Swedish acts covering the classics-The Crown does Bathory's "Burning Leather" by the way-I'm convinced they're just born with this knack for playing kick ass heavy music… better than everyone else! Talk about giving back to the community… Here are some more memorable moments by way of "Rebel Angel" and "I Won't Follow," two perfect examples of guitar harmonies found in all the right places! But let's not forget "Blitzkrieg Witchcraft," which somehow manages to have the whole capitol of Stockholm bellowing in the background! "Deathrace King…" yeah, this one's a keeper-what a headache! |
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