Kill the Crown

Despite the cliché band name and the ridiculous lyrics, Salt The Wound’s Kill The Crown might very well be one of the best deathcore albums I’ve heard. I’m not a fan of the genre, in fact for the most part I utterly detest it, but Salt The Wound work incredibly well with the constraints of the genre to create an entertaining even if unoriginal album.

Musically, Salt The Wound is another one of those post The Black Dahlia Murder Bands. Lots of melodic death metal riffs mixed with mid pitched vocals and frequent breakdowns. The first real track To The Top is a relatively succinct demonstration for the rest of the album, opening with a high octane melodeath riff and powerful vocals, the song remains energetic throughout and even retains interest during the breakdowns.

Heck, I guess that’s why I like these guys so damn much, they don’t overuse the breakdowns and when they are used, they’re more than just connective tissue between the faster riffs. However, the band’s sound is rather one dimensional, the same playing style and tone is kept consistent throughout the album without anything to break it apart. Near the end of the album, the riffs begin to blur together and it becomes quite hard to pin point where one song ends and another begins.

Thankfully though, the band always manages to surprise me with some killer riffs such as the opening to Why Don’t You Have A Seat? Whose intro can only be described as perfect. However, as the other reviewer noted, the good riffs are SO good that some of the other riffs are left in the shadows. Cash on Delivery is a relatively uneventful song that opens with a breakdown before moving into some fairly uninspired Slaughter of the Soul/Heartwork riffage, fortunately this is the closest to a filler that the album has. Early Mornings and Late Nights quickly fixes this problem by moving straight into high octane melodeath/metalcore riffs and powerful and expressive vocals, the band is able to quickly regain their footing when they have a small blip in quality.

Unlike most deathcore bands, Salt The Wound never get boring, with the exception of some riffs here and there, this is some of the most entertaining deathcore I’ve heard in a while. Of course it’s not going to convince detractors of the scene of the genre’s worth, but as an example of melodic deathcore, I doubt there’s a better band currently active in the scene. Recommended for fans of actually good deathcore.