"The End Of All Things"

Crown will release their new album on April 16th. I've already had the chance to listen to "The End Of All Things" and now I want to recommend it to you. As fans of post-rock and industrial, you will definitely get what you want.

I already presented the first single, "Illumination", to you in my music list for March. If you have been following the band since then, you probably already know the second one called "Violence". Both of them made me want more, so I certainly couldn't resist listening to the whole record already. And once more. And once more. Honestly: Crown's music doesn't get out of your head that quickly – which is pretty good, I think.

Pelagic Records writes:

"'The End Of All Things' is to Crown what 'Kid A' was to Radiohead: an album no one expected them to make."

Futuristic and sinister

For me, the double LP is one thing above all: exactly what I want to listen to at the moment. It's dark and futuristic without being too cool. Do you know what I mean? I want to listen to it loud in a big room, with people moving their bodies to it. So yes: It puts you in a special mood, and it is worth a listen. If you want more than a click on Spotify, you can pre-order the beautiful double gatefold.

Part one of the duo Crown is sound engineer, producer and musician David Husser. He has worked with icons like Depeche Mode and Peter Gabriel in the past and opened the stage for many bands with his industrial band Y Front in the 1990s.

Part two is singer Stéphane Azam, who has made himself a name as the live sound engineer for Alcest, among others. His vocals are calm on "The End Of All Things" and stand in contrast to the two previous Crown albums' brutal screaming. His voice becomes the most important stylistic device in the band's repertoire. Azam has definitely proven his versatility by now at the latest.

Karin Park from Årabrot joined "The End Of All Things" as guest

By the way, Karin Park from Årabrot makes a guest appearance on the last track, "Utopia". With her powerfulfull vocals, she once again elicits a magical shine from the vinyl. Hopefully, we can experience this collaboration live someday soon.

When planning the album, David Husser had deliberately insisted on recording mainly Stéphane Azam's vocals this time to give the record a unique character. During the recording, his very deep voice turned out to be a real challenge in terms of tuning the instruments. The work was worth it: the result is pretty epic.

People need to allow changes

The new album is quite different to the sound Crown made in their founding phase around 2011. "Real" drums have replaced the electronic drums, and the droning guitars are no longer there. The duo stands by the change. David said:

"In life, change is the one thing we can always count on. It's the same with music. I'm personally offended when a band regurgitates their ideas repeatedly, delivering copies of their old albums. Again and again. I want to take risks, go on adventures and explore new realms. Anything else, for me, wouldn't be art."

A beautiful sentence that pretty much sums up how I feel about music in general: You have to be prepared to allow change. If you insist on the "good old things", you miss the most beautiful moments and "The End Of All Things" is definitely one of them. It is a highlight in the release list of the coming weeks, and I can well imagine that it will inspire other artists to also try something completely new.

You can pre-order "The End Of All Things" here.

Crown – "Violence"

Crown – "Illumination"