The Crown - Hell is Here |
Rating - 3/5 |
This is basically a more irreverent and brutal take on the whole Swedish melodic death metal scene. From the cover art of the horned hand salute set into a burning pentagram, to the flaming riffs and vocals throughout the album, its quite apparent that this is not a work of subtlety.
The band accomplishes what they set out to do, molding thrashy melodic death with sheer love for all things metal. Entertaining and loud at the very least, just dont look for too much in the way of "artistic" or symbolic merit in either the lyrics of the music.
I was under the impression that this was gonna be an In Flames or Dark Tranquillity clone, which it most definitely is not. This is a totally unique slice of Swedish death/thrash. That said, its by no means an essential recording. Its good for what it is, by I personally enjoy stuff with a little more depth, and since I dont really care about image or attitude, that aspect of the band is sort of lost on me. However, theres always something to be said for high quality, no frills metal though; definitely check it out if that sounds like your thing.