… OK so, like, I CAN’T be the only one here who can’t wrap their head around the fact that The Crown never had a record called Crown of Thorns before now, right? Like, that doesn’t make any goddamn sense. They started their damn career under the name Crown of Thorns for crying out loud! How has this not happened already?!?

I like to think I’m a pretty reasonable and self-aware guy. As such, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like there’s much I can say here to change your opinion one way or another about these longtime veterans and champions of thrashy Swedish Death n’ Roll. I’m not even gonna pretend like my views on their long career are at all unique or controversial, unless you want to count my firm opinion that the original Crowned in Terror with Tomas Lindberg on vocals doesn’t even count as a Crown record (yes, it’s a fine album, but The Crown without Johan Lindstrand isn’t The Crown and I’m not budging on this). Deathrace King is, unequivocally, my favorite metal record of all time. Their first attempt at a comeback in the 2010s was underwhelming (to be as kind as possible), and though their most recent works in Cobra Speed Venom and Royal Destroyer did show a spark of reinvigoration, for my blood both were still a bit too polished to truly recreate the unhinged energy of their earlier work (though I’ve come around quite a bit on the latter).

So now comes Crown of Thorns, sporting some gnarly old school cover art which, paired with the nod to their original name, might make one believe the boys are ready to throw modernity to the wind and give us the full-on throwback some (or at least I) have been craving for decades now. And you know what? Damned if they don’t get things off to a rip-roaring start on “I Hunt with the Devil,” which immediately brings some lunacy with a healthy offering of scorcher riffs, righteous as fuck dive bombs and blackened runs that all breathe with a sort of organic, primal fury of that’s been somewhat missing on recent work. Make no mistake, the rough edges of their earlier material are still sanded down to a more polished end product, but the energy is there in spades, as evident on second track “Churchburner” which keeps aiming straight for the throat, keeping the attack in full-on blitzkrieg speed. The monster downpicked opening riff hits like a freight train taking out some poor sap stalled on the tracks, followed by an absolute ripper that keeps the carnage rolling along at breakneck speed. If there’s any complaint to be had, it’s only that the song’s closing minute feels maybe like it’s building into an explosive crescendo, but sorta peters out before real hell is unleashed.

And there’s another big fault at play on Crowned in Thorns that keeps this from being a full-on success in my book, and it’s the mix. Maybe The Crown have fallen a bit into the trap of being overly focused on doling out the punishment, because there’s some absolutely filthy lead work at play here, and unfortunately it all-too-often isn’t given the spotlight it deserves. “Martyrian” is a prime example, with Marcus Sunesson laying down maybe his catchiest lead melody to date and littering the entire song with masterful leads that are all just buried way too low to be fully appreciated. Same story on “God King” and “The Night is Now,” another supremely catchy track whose impact again feels somewhat tempered by not letting the track’s dirty, bluesy lead guitar take center stage. Don’t get me wrong, these tracks still deserve your attention, I just can’t help but thing they could pack a bigger punch pretty easily.

The good news is, if The Crown are still really good at the whole “play fast and melt faces” thing, so even if some of the melody is put a bit on the back burner, they still have no problem getting the blood pumping and your head banging. “The Agitator” is as no-frills and to-the-point a track as I can remember The Crown recording, the whole thing really just acting as a stage for John Lindstrand to spew his trademark barking blasphemy to full effect. It’s follow-up, “Where Nightmares Belong,” follows suit, boasting one of the album’s hallmark moments with a fantastic chugging bridge that should make it a staple in their live shows moving forward. I even like the unexpected female vocal melody at the end that adds another little wrinkle into the possibilities of what The Crown can do moving forward from here.

Crown of Thorns is a tough one to totally assess. On my first couple of playthroughs I felt like I was connecting to these songs better than I had with the band’s prior couple of releases, but the more I listened the more some of the chinks in the armor started to really show themselves. I think there’s a lot of really good, fun ideas here that have a lot of potential that the songs don’t quite pay out as consistently as you’d like. Flashes of the band’s old school unhinged lunacy still hit here and there, but again, not as often or consistently as I think it could have. At the end of the day though, I’m never going to say “no” to being able to hear The Crown still do some very Crown-like things, and the albums of old I hold dear will still be there for me when I need that unbridled heathenism. So take the gift for what it is, and dig in so the good shit that still makes this album worthwhile.

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