Doomsday King

Having come to The Crown through recommendations, I was rather surprised to behold 'Doomsday King'. It wasn't that I expected the band to sound slower or gentler or less frantic, it was just that I hadn't anticipated something so unrelenting as this. Admittedly, some of those recommendations do seem a tad wayward now, such as their comparison with The Haunted, who of course were never death thrash - maybe melodeath thrash at most. This kind of unreconstituted heaviness, then, I was not ready for.

If the previous namedrop has thrown you rather off the scent of The Crown's sound, then allow me to rebalance it by plopping Krisiun on the other scale. There is some of the catchily furious riffing that The Haunted made their trademark, but there is also plenty of heads down heaviness that will satisfy those who sometimes wonder if Slayer is for pussies. A couple of different styles go into the melting pot for 'Doomsday King', not least Krisiun's mountain-sized portion of meat and potatoes riffing and blasting that constitutes more than a third of this opus. The album heaps on some tender fragments of the aforementioned thrash overlords Slayer, who crop up more in the details of solos and atmospheres than the main course, although a few nifty thrash breaks betray their influence. There are two more words that describe The Crown's sound as of 2010: the first is "modern", which is to be expected, since the band were returning after a lengthy absence; the second is "doomy", which might be unusual for this kind of music, though makes sense when the crushing opening of the title track and the main riff from 'The Tempter and the Bible Black' ring out like a king's herald.

The modern streak in The Crown's sound may come as a result of these cumulative influences, but is evident in the production and the drumming too. Compared to the band's first few albums, a distinct progression in recording quality is notable (as it should be), though the new production adds extreme power and brutality to the sound, whereas the sound on 'Deathrace King' was more notably given over to speed and nuance, not heaviness. In 2010, everything is geared to sound as big and broad as possible, right from the concrete guitars to the butt-clenching vocals. The guitars actually sound most potent when playing in the slower doomy style, but gain a slightly sharper edge in the thrashier songs such as 'Age of Iron' that allows them to bite nonetheless. Like an ogre covered in tar rising from the darkness, the bass is thick and unsubtle, usually fattening everything up into a trendier sound than the 90s incarnation of this band could ever hope to achieve. The drumming, however, is my sticking point. This is frequently overdone from my point of view, with too much blasting and fullness of sound for this kind of mix. If the drums didn't sound so cavernous, it might be okay, because then they wouldn't counteract the guitars so much and obscure the details in the riffs. I say they sound cavernous, by which I mean they sound like they are emerging from a cavern - a very deep sound, at the bottom of the mix, without much distinction between different parts of the kit. This muddiness makes everything a little too brutal for its own good, since the guitars are often played at low pitch, meaning the faster bottom-string riffs all sound alike.

That said, there's still a lot to enjoy about 'Doomsday King'. There are a lot of riffs and most songs have a few that hit harder and stronger, plus the solos are always welcome when they appear. 'Age of Iron' transforms from flat-out thrash into a brilliantly clear melodeath guitar feast for about a minute, while 'Soul Slasher' makes the best of the modern chug and fill technique, developing into a groovy deathride with some of the album's best fills. As previously mentioned, the slower numbers work especially well, particularly the repeating harmonic riff that appears halfway through 'Desolation Domain', which is catchy, melodic, and absolutely flattening. I do wonder if one of the longer tracks that close 'Doomsday King' could possibly have been cut, since six minutes in this style - whatever atmospheric inclusions are attempted - becomes a bit wearing and makes the whole feel long, even at just 45 minutes. Slightly more variety or clinical finish would have been welcome, but The Crown successfully made the transformation from their earlier work to a place in our modern world.