Photo by Daniel Johansson
THE CROWN: “Gone To Hell” Video From Swedish Death Metal Legends Now Playing; Crown Of Thorns Full-Length To See Released Via Metal Blade Records
Swedish death metal icons The Crown released their latest single, “Gone To Hell,” from their eagerly awaited twelfth studio album, Crown Of Thorns, via Metal Blade Records. This powerful new track showcases the band’s signature sound and marks an exciting moment in their storied career.
Guitarist Marko Tervonen shared insights about the track, stating, “‘Gone To Hell’ is a very special song in many ways. As you may have seen on our older albums, there are quite a few songs where the music is by ‘Olsfelt/Tervonen’ [referring to former bassist Magnus Olsfelt]. But that doesn’t actually mean that we wrote the song together. It was more about Magnus ‘stealing’ some riffs from me from songs that never made it to the albums. So he nicked the best stuff and included them into his songs. But ‘Gone To Hell’ was the first time we wrote something together. Magnus showed me the basic riffs to the song, on bass. We recorded it to a metronome and then I sort of ‘took over.’ I added the melodies, arranged it, wrote the drums and vocals etc. So, it was actually the only song we ever worked on together before he left the band. The song is more mid-tempo oriented; it almost has some post-punk elements to it. I personally love it and I’m super proud of it. I expect to read a lot of ‘what is this soft song shit’ from people, otherwise I will be very disappointed!”
The accompanying video for “Gone To Hell” was crafted by Anton Hallenberg and Robin Schulz. Fans can also check out the previously released video for “Churchburner” available at the designated link.
Crown Of Thorns serves as a dynamic follow-up to 2021’s Royal Destroyer, showcasing a heightened musical complexity, partly due to the addition of drummer Mikael Norén and bassist Mattias Rasmussen in 2022, alongside the return of lead guitarist Marcus Sunesson. Tervonen explains, “With Mikael, we managed to bring back a bit more of that crazy ‘Janne Saarenpää’ feel to the drumming, so that was a really cool energy boost. Mattias comes more from a punk/crust background, and he wrote ‘I Hunt With The Devil’ and ‘Mind Collapse,’ which turned out great. This is definitely a step up in many ways, changing the way we worked on the Cobra Speed Venom and Royal Destroyer albums.”
Celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2020, THE CROWN continues to evolve while honoring their roots. Tervonen notes, “I guess every band needs to do a self-titled album at some point. So now we did it, our way.”
Crown Of Thorns was recorded by Marko Tervonen at Studio-MT, mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren at Black Lounge Studios, and will be available in various formats, including jewel case CD (US), limited digipak CD with three additional studio tracks (EU), digital formats, and special vinyl editions.
Upcoming live performances include:
– 11/23/2024 Gothenburg Hall Of Metal – Gothenburg, SE
– 3/15/2025 Heidelberg Deathfest 25 – Heidelberg, DE
The album has already garnered praise from various music critics, with Mike Schleibaum from Darkest Hour stating, “Crown Of Thorns combines all the best elements of death metal, thrash, punk, and even grind in this modern metal masterpiece! I’m absolutely in love with the production and each member’s performance, a modern sound with that old soul.”
Heljarmadr from Dark Funeral added, “The new album from THE CROWN really lives up to the name, Crown Of Thorns. It has a vibe that goes all the way back to those ‘90s albums.”
As Patrik Jensen from The Haunted puts it, “Face-melting as always, THE CROWN never disappoint.”
Lastly, Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity/The Halo Effect said, “Sweden’s most lethal crownbearers are back, and what an incredible return it is!”
THE CROWN lineup includes:
– Johan Lindstrand – vocals
– Marko Tervonen – guitar
– Marcus Sunesson – lead guitar
– Mattias Rasmussen – bass
– Mikael Norén – drums
https://www.metalblade.com/museum
CONNECT WITH THE CROWN:
METAL BLADE RECORDS:
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