My Give-A-Sh*t meter failed to budge when The Crown announced they had once more brought back Johan Lindstrand to handle the band's vocal position. The Crown did not reasonably suck in any conceivable way when Tomas Lindberg of At The Gates fame took over the vocalist role on "Crowned in Terror," though his tenor in the faction ended quickly when Lindstrand came back into the picture. Jonas Stålhammar, too, provided excellent vocals on "Doomsday King," The Crown's long-awaited comeback album that showed off its big teeth but ran away like a sissy after chipping its tooth on the first few tracks. It seemed to me that having Lindstrand back to handle the growls was redundant; he's an excellent fit for the group's style, but the other vocalists had done just fine.In fact, there wasn't much going on worth busting one's nuts over before the original demise of The Royal Five. Lindstrand's work on the rerecording of "Crowned in Terror" (called "Crowned Unholy") was the exact same record, save for his snarls taking over Tompa's schnauzer-esque barks. "Possessed 13" was the poorest effort coughed up by the dudes before their split, easily, but it still held up and made sense. After they disbanded, Johan was doing quite well with the goofily-named The One Man Army and the Undead Quartet project he led for several years. He, along with his musical confidants, put out a number of solid death/thrash metal records before The Quartet was canned, making his foreseeable return to The Crown more obvious than lewd behavior from the local drunk.
The Crown, however, stalled out as soon as "Doomsday King" launched. The record simply spun around the same 'dun-dun-dundundun' riff with its fist up it’s a-- for forty-five minutes, and showed the members, now Lindstrand-less, trying to resurrect a death metal titan by munching on the creatively-empty bones of a modern horse whose meat had been picked and devoured by thousands of other bands. The variables were in play for Lindstrand to once again take his role as vocalist: The Crown was sputtering in the sand upon its long-awaited return; Johan spent his time in The Quartet beating around the bush; and the band's history of a shoddy vocalist situation that would impress even those whose histories are mired by swapping singers as if they were bags of fast food at the drive-thru (Annihilator, Exodus, Anthrax, etc.) was still in plain sight. Put two and two together, and that's where "Death is not Dead" comes in.
Here's something singer-issue factions have in common: they suck. Although "Death is not Dead" has the semblance of some glorious return, every vital element of The Crown's style goes completely over its head. It's not bad because a few major points are missed; it's bad because EVERY major point is missed. The most Crown-like moments are found in song titles like "Speed Kills (Full Moon Ahead)" and "Headhunter," both of which are mightily deceiving. The Crown was a project of power and electricity, but this lacks both. It's like their knowledge of death metal had been erased and they were told to make a new album based on sticky notes left around the studio.
I'm not sure where to even begin. Perhaps the most egregious blunder here is the production, which helps "Death is not Dead" become utterly gutless. The flat guitar tone and weak drum sound make the mix an ineffective channel to transmit songs of any quality; it's only fitting that these ones are poorly written and lacking elements of interest. Johan's umpteenth return to The Crown is not without its hardships, as his growls and grunts lack teeth, just tired and feeble harsh vocals that are downright unacceptable from the dude who tore it up on "Eternal Death" and "Deathrace King." Sadly, the theme of being worn out and dull reflects all but a slither of a musical spine that melts away like snow in spring.
Despite the impression that this is somehow a 'return,' "Death is not Dead" is the first of the band's works without longtime guitarist Marcus Sunesson and drummer Janne Saarenpää, ironically. The absence of Saarenpää is especially daunting, as his explosive style consistently played an integral role to The Crown's many shifts. Marko Tervonen gives a capable performance, but far from one that would even scrape the usual Saarenpää output. His drum patterns are basic at best, and it's particularly evident during one of the record's few blast beat sections that there is a world of difference between the skills required to perform rudimentary patterns and those needed to achieve more demanding measures such as the blast beat. Tervonen does the job but fails to go the extra mile, much like almost every second of "Death is not Dead."
The lack of impactful drumming only serves to magnify what is the weakest arsenal of riffs these dudes have ever presented. Right off the bat, "Headhunter" falls into a straightforward, paltry riff that might have some merit among a second-rate melodic death metal squad. "Iblis Bane" has some faster bits and a cool soloing section, but most of the tune is uninteresting. If we're going to get down to picky descriptions, "Death is not Dead" strikes the modern death metal mold à la "Possessed 13" without the songwriting knacks to make it worthwhile. Trying to recall "Godeater" or "Struck by Lightning" is challenging, for neither has the components to make itself a standout. Even "Speed Kills (Full Moon Ahead)," its name implying a song that at least tries to move quickly, shows The Crown heaving out an average death metal tune revolving around candid riffs and an annoying chorus. It's like The Crown of yesteryears got sick of the motorcycle and went with one of those motor scooters at the grocery store. Safety goes up, fun goes down.
The real horror here is that it is all too forgettable, although they are clearly trying to keep up with the image and principals of being a death metal band. Something like "Horrid Ways" or "Herd of Swine" has nothing worth mentioning going on, as the measure of drama is completely out of the picture and The Crown's trademark intensity could not have been more overlooked. "Death is not Dead" is undeniably covered in the expected traits of The Crown, but without the charm those characteristics shined with through layers of gore and hellfire back when the faction was stable and poised. Here, The Crown sounds like a husk of its former self wriggling around a puny perception of death metal, and I think it's safe to say that death would do some groups a wonderful favor by staying dead (wink, wink).