Night Crowned – Tales
Reviewed By: Dennis van ‘t Hoofd
Review Score: 8.0
It was with their second album Hädanfärd from 2021 that blackened death metal band Night
Crowned first came to my attention. With the ferocious blastbeats combined with razor-sharp
guitar riffs and a fat melody in the opening track ‘Nattkrönt’ you could sense that these guys from
Gothenburg meant serious business.
Comprised of members that have earned their stripes in bands like Cipher System, Nightrage and Dark Funeral one can see there is plenty of craftmanship in this band. The excellence of their first two albums Impius Viam and Hädanfärd is continued on their third album Tales due on. Inspired by myths and folklores from the north, Night Crowned present eight new melodic blackened death metal tracks with lyrics sung in Swedish, Finnish and English.
The music is more melodic than blackened and the band takes ingredients from both melodic death metal, black metal and some folk. The furious blast beats come straight away from Dark Funeral drummer Janne Jaloma who gives the songs their aggressive fundament. The original Cipher System guitar tandem Henric Liljesand and Johan Eskilsson lay down a wall of melodic guitar riffing backed up with some atmospheric keyboard parts. Vocal duties are shared between frontman Ken Romlin and guitarist Eskilsson and vary between blackened shrieks and screams, death metal growls and clean vocals. Guest vocals by Thyrfing singer Jens Rydén and Sadauk vocalist Therése Thomsson can be heard on three of the songs and the use of the key harp, the hurdy gurdy and other string instruments show the band have put a lot of effort into this album.
Night Crowned have paid attention to every little detail, from lyrics, to the compositions and the artwork. The sick cover artwork by Spanish artist Álvaro Valverde for example, fits the lyrical theme perfectly and shows a modern version of 19th century painting ‘The Wild Hunt of Odin’ by Peter Nicolai Arbo.
Tales is their most complete and mature album to date and shows that Night Crowned is ready for their next big step. Fans of melodic blackened death metal like Netherbird or Diabolical should definitely give this release a spin!
Tales drops on November 10th via Noble Demon Records.