THE CROWN - "DEATHRACE KING" (METAL BLADE)
THE CROWN - "DEATHRACE KING" (METAL BLADE)
"Deathrace King" is probably, at least as far as I am concerned, The Crown's, um, crowning effort to date. That's easy to explain, however, because their previous albums did nothing for me. "Deathrace King" kicks off with the pretty OK "Deathexplosion", followed by one of the most interesting tracks on the CD, "Executioner". After that, it more or less runs on in very much the same vein, or perhaps I should say "a same-ish vein", with little vocal differences and two further climaxes of sorts in the form of "Dead Man's Song" (with cool guitar work, quite melodic, nice track) and "Total Satan" (fast and very energetic song with, you have to hand it to 'em, a really fun title).
"Deathrace King" sounds good, is well produced, and tightly executed. However, as a whole the album leaves only a 'pretty good' impression. There is no magic ingredient, nor does the album grab me by the prives in any way. Pretty cool, but nothing more than that.
RK
Written February 2000