Band: The Crown
Title: Doomsday King
Label: Century Media
Distribution: EMI
Release date: September 27th 2010
Review: CD

The Crown were formed in 1990 as Crown Of Thorns, originally as ‘just a garage band’. During the first years, the band developed their musical approach and their successful demos luckily have been compiled in 1995 on CD (Blackend, by the way, did re-issue this album in 2004). In 1997, the band’s moniker got adapted in the current one, The Crown, and around that time ex-At The Gates-front man Tomas Lindberg joined as their new singer. Several albums were recorded, increasing the band’s worldwide influence and importance, and suddenly, out of the blue, after almost fifteen years of existence, and after six important full lengths, the band announced its split-up.
However, bass player Magnus Olsfeld continued writing material and with some former colleagues, he started jamming too. The guys recruited former God Macabre / Utumno-vocalist Jonas Stålhammar and went on under the moniker of Dobermann. Nevertheless it didn’t take long before Dobermann got reformed as The Crown again, also because the new material was very much in the same vein of The Crown’s (latest) compositions.
The friends / colleagues entered guitarist Marko Tervonen’s Studio MT, which gave the quintet the opportunity to take as much time as they needed. And this possibility shows…
The compositions are the most cohesive ones to date and the balance is better than ever before. Besides, the whole comes with a persuasion unseen before. These forty four minutes bring The Crown’s highlight. I do hear an improved continuation of 2002’s Crowned In Terror and at the same time, the band goes back to its roots – think the era shortly after the name-change.
Because of the colossal production, the album sounds massive and powerful. This too makes Doomsday King stronger than ever before. And the rhythmic, no-nonsense song-writing has never been as brutal, darkened and thrashing. This stuff mercilessly exceeds the average approach of Swedish Metal – this is universal and timeless Thrash / Death Metal with a blackened edge, unstoppable, uncompromising, fast and furious, straight-forward, no bullshitting and ultimately overpowering.
The Crown’s best recording to date!

87/100

Ivan Tibos.