Night Crowned appear super productive so far, as they present their second full-length album in two years. The debut “Impius Viam” came out last year, which contained both EPs they had released so far. Founded in 2016 with members who play or have played in well-known bands of the scene such as Nightrage, Aeon, Dark Funeral and Cipher System.
What Night Crowned offers us is melodic black/death metal, in a very special way I can say. I confess that the first time I listened to it, it did not say much to me, but from the second he made me pay good attention. And this is because the Swedes usually indulge in a black/death orgy with razor-sharp guitars and drums that blast-out without tomorrow. At times, however, they put in their songs, excellent melodic or atmospheric parts that change the whole listening experience.
For example, the amazing guitar melody of the opener “Nattkrönt” or the awesome atmospheric point with the clean vocals in “Rex Tenebrae”. In “Ett Gravfäst Öde” they reminded me a lot of the mighty Dissection while in the middle of the album there is the almost two-minute acoustic instrumental “Hädanfärd”, which works perfectly like a calm break. There are of course the mid-tempo moments that do not go unnoticed at all, but the band seems to like the fast speeds more.
From what you may have understood from the titles, the entire album is in their native language (as opposed to the debut). So, Night Crowned in “Hädanfärd”, although they basically focus on the extreme side of their music, when they put the melody and the atmosphere in the equation they create a very special and interesting result. Next steps for me? Listen to their debut and seek them out to add them to my collection.
