Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: June 18, 2021
Production: Jona Tee
Album length: 43:17 min
Genre: Hard Rock/Melodic Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
Crowne are the new supermelodic hard rock sensation, fronted by vocalist Alexander Strandell (Art Nation), with guitarist, keyboardist and producer Jona Tee (H.E.A.T.), bassist John Levén (Europe) and drummer Christian Lundqvist (The Poodles) rounding out the lineup. This crew came out of nowhere this year to announce a studio debut, and then slapped it out damn fast, too. The debut in question: »Kings in the North«.
A toxic combination of four musicians, then. Honestly, it’s hard for anything to go wrong when you run your eyes down those names. Nothing, really. It’s all here. On top of the proverbial exceptional talent, experience and mileage, the guarantee of top quality is that untamable core of Scandinavian musicians chasing perfection. That commitment, whatever the genre, can be downright breathtaking at times. »Kings in the North« really has just one flaw: it came out in 2021 instead of 1985, which, let’s be honest, isn’t even a flaw. Anyone who keeps in touch with eighties hard rock, along with all the post-millennium Scandinavian hard rock splendor and the melodic rock revival that likes to hang out with classic heavy metal now and then, will be on the same wavelength in no time.
»Kings In The North« is an album that’s essentially devoted to hard rock, though thanks to its outstanding musicality it’s heavily eyeing the elements of the melodic rock revival. Add some moments of seriously sharpened, bristling phrasing and the ties to the old school of classic metal are more than justified. So this is a record that doesn’t hide even its neo-classical seasoning (Set Me Free) and is hard and uncompromising at every turn. If we take the cross-section of the core group of musicians listed in the first paragraph of this piece, the reference point for what’s going on in »Kings In The North« gets pretty well revealed. The classic design of the phrasing package, the keyboard arrangements too, backed by the flirty stomp of the rhythm section, draws on the bygone days of Rainbow, Deep Purple, Whitesnake and, yes, we can say Europe with a clear conscience, too. There’s modern production here, and above all that pomp-rhetoric dressing of harmonized vocal lines, with which Crowne achieve a theatrical, atmospheric character in creating bombastically catchy chorus melodies. That’s a trick of the glam metal and melodic rock revival (Eclipse, Crazy Lixx, the aforementioned H.E.A.T., …), which a whole garrison of post-millennium bands from Scandinavia handle so skillfully. In a musical environment like this, the listener always wonders what to expect from the singer. And the vocals really are key. Alexander Strandell has a clean, concise, explosive and distinctive file of vocal expression, which effectively overpowers, or rather matches, the recipe of strongly expressive phrasing in a hard rock arrangement packaged with great character and skill. As said. On »Kings In The North«, the only weak spot is that the album came out at the wrong time (commercially speaking). Guitar solos on the album were contributed by Love Magnusson of Dynazty.
»Kings In The North« really is an excellent album that follows the tradition of such achievements from the rich arsenal of Scandinavian hard rock legacy. Alongside the aforementioned Europe, you’ve got to add at least Treat, Renegade and 220 Volt. Another plus is that at eleven tracks it’s “pleasantly short”, meaning under three quarters of an hour, so there are no time thieves on it. The band gets straight to the point and says as much as it needs to. Not too much, not too little. Experience is experience. Ideas, great songwriting form and, as said, a perfectionist approach, accompanied by creative, performing fire and vehemence. So Crowne don’t bring anything you haven’t heard before, but what they do bring, they’ve made in a way that will thrill fans of this kind of music endlessly and brighten up their listening hours. It’s the kind of quality that only the best in the business can achieve and deliver.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Kings In The North
2. Perceval
3. Sharoline
4. Unbreakable
5. Mad World
6. One In A Million
7. Sum Of All Fears
8. Set Me Free
9. Make A Stand
10. Cross To Bear
11. Save Me From Myself
Lineup:
Alexander Strandell – vocals
Jona Tee – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
John Levén – bass guitar
Christian “Kicken” Lundqvist – drums
Guest musician:
Love Magnusson – guitar solos
odlični, simply the best