The Crown is a Swedish death metal band from

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is loc ...

, active from 1990 to 2004, and again since 2009.

History

Originally, they used the name Crown of Thorns but were forced to change their name due to an American band already using that name. Their music and lyrics are inspired by death,

antireligious Antireligion is opposition to religion. It involves opposition to organized religion, religious ritual, religious practices or religious institutions. The term ''antireligion'' has also been used to describe opposition to specific forms of supe ...

themes (mostly targeting

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

) and rebellion. They are known to fuse

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavine ...

with aggressive old-school death metal tendencies and considerable thrash metal influences, reminiscent of bands such as Possessed and old

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...

. The Crown disbanded in 2004. After that, Lindstrand went on to form One Man Army and the Undead Quartet. Tervonen formed Angel Blake, named after a song by Danzig. Sunesson is in a band called Engel. Olsfelt is also in a band called Stolen Policecar. The band was reformed in December 2009 with Jonas Stålhammar of God Macabre as the new vocalist. On 30 June 2010, it was reported that The Crown signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records and the band's eighth studio album, '' Doomsday King'', was released in September 2010. The Crown celebrated their 25th anniversary with the release of their ninth studio album, '' Death Is Not Dead'' on 12 January 2015. The first single "Headhunter" was released on 27 October 2014 as well as the music video was made on the same date. On 28 November 2017, it was announced that The Crown had returned to

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distr ...

, and released the first single "Iron Crown" from their then-upcoming tenth studio album ''Cobra Speed Venom'', on 12 January 2018. On that album, The Crown used a string quartet with Alexander Bringsoniou playing

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

. Their eleventh studio album, ''Royal Destroyer'', was released 12 March 2021.

Members

Current line-up *Marko Tervonen – rhythm guitar (1990–2004, 2009–present) *Johan Lindstrand – vocals (1990–2001, 2002–2004, 2011–present) *Robin Sörqvist – lead guitar (2013–present) *Mattias Rasmussen – bass (2022–present) *Mikael Norén – drums (2022–present) Former members *Magnus Olsfelt – bass (1990–2004, 2009–2022) *Janne Saarenpää – drums (1990–2004, 2009–2014) *Robert Österberg – lead guitar (1990–1993) *Marcus Sunesson – lead guitar (1993–2004, 2009–2013) *

Tomas Lindberg Tomas Lindberg (born 16 October 1972), also known as "Tompa" and "Goatspell", is a Swedish vocalist who has fronted many death metal bands, most notably At the Gates. He has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. He also t ...

– vocals (2001–2002) *Jonas Stålhammar – vocals (2009–2011) *Henrik Axelsson – drums (2014–2022) Timeline

Discography

Albums

*'' The Burning'' (1995 as Crown of Thorns) *'' Eternal Death'' (1997 as Crown of Thorns) *'' Hell Is Here'' (1999) *'' Deathrace King'' (2000) *'' Crowned in Terror'' (2002) *'' Possessed 13'' (2003) *'' Crowned Unholy'' (2004) *'' Doomsday King'' (2010) *'' Death Is Not Dead'' (2015) *'' Cobra Speed Venom'' (2018) *''Royal Destroyer'' (2021)

Demos

*''Forever Heaven Gone'' (1993) *''Forget the Light'' (1994)

Videography

DVDs

*''The Crown Invades Karlsruhe'' (2004), pro-shot live show included with Crowned Unholy CD * ''14 Years of No Tomorrow'' (2006), three DVDs consisting of a documentary and live shows

References

External links

Metal Blade Records' The Crown page
(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crown, The Swedish thrash metal musical groups Swedish melodic death metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical quintets Metal Blade Records artists