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""The End Of All Things" is a great sophisticated record that loves to play on many indus, post rock, doom and electro contrasts, between instrumental warmth and conceptual coldness. Enter the Game of Crown !"
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4/5
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Crown is above all Stéphane Azam's project, created a little more than 10 years ago. This entity could be seen at the beginning as a kind of collective collecting collaborations and guests a bit like Archive. The previous album, "Natron", saw for example the intervention of Neige (Alcest), Michel Eikenaar (Nihil - Dodecahedron) or Kvost (Grave Pleasure) to give it an ambient darkness between screams and melancholic voices. Aware of its vocal possibilities, encouraged in this sense by David Husser (synthesizers, guitars) who was previously in production and mixing, the collective became a band for the realization of "The End Of All Things".
If "Natron" stretched some tracks up to 9 minutes, this new album takes the opposite by proposing shorter tracks in order to be more efficient. The record gains in sophistication with an important work on the sound and more thoughtful ambiences than usual, putting forward Stéphane's voice which was previously almost hidden behind the instrumentation.
If the electronic and indus part (Nine Inch Nails) remains present, it is balanced by more organic moments, with acoustic and arpeggiated guitars ('Fleuve') bringing him a warmer side and a form of humanity. 'Violence' takes a different aspect from what we could expect at the reading of the title with an insidious progression (as violence can be sometimes), more contained between serious verses and a luminous chorus where Stephane shows a great talent to play on the contrasts. The band has the intelligence to pick in different styles and to try things to go out of its comfort zone, as in 'Neverland' where a post rock aspect in the Mono style is mixed with darker pop atmospheres in the Blackfield style (the singing reminds a bit of Aviv Geffen).
As if to shake up and pull the listener out of the heaviness that tinges "The End Of All Things", the duo offers more dynamic tracks like a dancing "Shades" that revives the screams and the electric or "Gallows" that leans towards the 80s with its new wave color. Crown by this way offers a music that provokes images and has a strong cinematographic aspect. 'Nails' follows this observation with its long sampled introduction to embark on a "Blade Runner" thematic with vaguely Asian colors. Last contrast, the album ends on a relatively more positive note with 'Utopia' where Stephane elegantly fades away in favor of Karin Park (Arabot) who brings a little light with her inhabited vocals and whose last notes remind 'Violence' to form a loop.
The evolution of the band is not without reminding Klone with "Le Grand Voyage". By choosing a fusion between electro, doom, indus and post rock with a pop touch, "The End Of All Things" gains in sophistication and nuances. Playing more on the musical oxymorons, between organic warmth of the instruments (drums) and conceptual and thematic coldness, the album has a lot of relief and becomes addictive. Decidedly the rock and metal scene offers pleasant surprises and Crown is the perfect incarnation of it. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Violence 02. Neverland 03. Shades 04. Illumination 05. Nails 06. Gallows 07. Extinction 08. Fleuve 09. Firebearer 10. Utopia
LINEUP:
David Husser: Guitares / Basse / Claviers Stéphane Azam: Chant Karin Park: Chant / Invité
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(0) COMMENT(S)
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READERS
3/5 (2 view(s))
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STAFF:
4/5 (5 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH CROWN
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OTHER REVIEWS
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