Sweden’s The Crown have been around since 1990 and has released two demos and five albums. The band’s lineup has remained stable until early 2001 when singer Johan Lindstrand decided to call it quits. He was replaced by Tomas Lindberg (ex At the Gates) giving us the lineup we have today. The Crown has been touring like madmen and are about to embark on a North American tour supporting their latest album.

The album starts out with a keyboard intro entitled “House of Hades” which could easily lead one to believe they were listening to a black metal CD. From there it abruptly leaps into the title track “Crowned in Terror”, a savage Swedish death opus. Nope, this is definitely not a black metal album! “Crowned in Terror” marks the debut of Tomas Lindberg on vocals and the veteran front man does not disappoint with his trademark pained screams and yells. Musicianship is solid as ever, remaining highly melodic but at the same time keeping the brutal edge that so many of The Crown’s fellow countrymen have all but abandoned. This is ten tracks of unforgiving melodic death metal that is sure to please.

If you like any of The Crown’s previous albums do yourself a favor and get this one. If recent Swedish death albums have you looking for something with a little more bit to it you can stop the search now. Two horns up for this release!

01 House Of Hades (intro)
02 Crowned In Terror
03 Under the Whip
04 Drugged Unholy
05 World Below
06 The Speed of Darkness
07 Out for Blood
08 I Am Hell
09 Death Is The Hunter
10 Satanist
11 Death Metal Holocaust
(Metal Blade) Rating: 9 /10

I don’t have much background on this band nor have I heard their first self-titled CD so I guess I can be considered a bit of a newbie as far as this band goes. I do know that they are from Sweden and that this album was engineered and mixed by Andy LaRocque. I also know that I am not the biggest power metal fan in the world so this review may be a little stilted.

To be honest I wasn’t looking forward to reviewing this one as most power metal vocals REALLY get on my nerves. I was a bit surprised by “Chapters from a Vale Forlorn” though because the vocalist didn’t do the god-awful stereotypical screams that seem to make up the majority of power metal on the market today. The vocals, although very clean and melodic, are much more masculine than most and actually seem to convey some *gasp* power to them. Musically it’s pretty much standard heavy metal but it does a pretty damn good job at conveying the medieval theme and imagery suggested by the lyrics and song titles. I think this album would really go over well at a medieval festival or a jousting event. If I was to compare this to anything I’d have to go with a metal version of Jethro Tull!

I would have no problem recommending this to fans of the genre although some might be a bit turned off by the lack of “True Metal Screams”. Check this sucker out if you’re either a power metal fan or a Jethro Tull fan looking for something a bit heavier. This is one power metal/true metal CD that’s going to get repeated playback in my stereo.

01 Decadence of Dignity
02 Enter the Glade
03 Lament of a Minstrel
04 For Life and Liberty
05 We Sold Our Homesteads
06 The Clarion Call
07 Portals of Light
08 Stand in Veneration
09 Busted to the Floor
(Metal Blade) Rating: 7 /10