My love of modern French metal is well documented, and whilst I had heard of Svart Crown in the past I had never actually heard them until the powers that be presented me with their latest offering ‘Profane’. The French seem to have discovered a knack in the last 10 to 15 years of producing bands that deliver top notch extreme metal, and these guys are clearly no exception. Theirs is a very technical form of blackened death laced with violence and bad intentions, and it is wholly infectious.
As is so often the case these days, there is an intro track, yet whilst these are usually just atmospheric sounds, (rain, wind, clunking, screams, you get the idea), the intro here genuinely does work as a lead in track. It’s actually musical for one thing, and utilises a riff that immediately generates interest; however it would almost certainly have worked better had that riff been used to kick off the first proper track, but c’est la vie! First proper track ‘Genesis Architect’ is a violent storm of a song. An aggressive mixture of urgent riffing and blasting, it has a Gojira meets Immolation feel about it. The pace and intensity is damn near relentless and the experience is akin to being rhythmically bludgeoned with hammers, in a toe tapping and head snappingly punishing way. By the time we reach ‘In Utero: A Place of Hatred and Threat’, you are crying out for a slight reprieve, and the light strumming and initial calm lets you relax, however the tone of those guitars has genuine sense of foreboding. When the screams come, (and believe me they do come), all hell is unleashed. This is a crushing track, and singer/guitarist JB Le Ball spits out every line with unrelenting and unrepentant hate, as new drummer Nico Muller conjures up a percussive whirlwind with a quite brilliant display.
We finally get time to breathe, although the tone of ‘Until The Last Breath’ suggests that the respite will be short-lived, and as suspected what begins as an intensely dark and atmospheric track builds into a brooding rage before the fury of the ‘Profane’ is unleashed, which is a disappointingly standard blast until the last third of the track which is mesmerizingly intricate and captivating. ‘The Therapy of Flesh’ sees Svart Crown experimenting with styles, dabbling with slower doomy elements to compliment the violence. The instrumental ‘Venomous Ritual’ serves as a sinister sounding lead in to the blasting frenzy of ‘Ascetic Purification’, a 122 second assault on the senses that leaves you feeling aurally bruised. By the close of the final track, you feel annihilated and exhausted, yet somehow also strangely invigorated.
Musically, ‘Profane’ is a beast of an album, technically brilliant in fact. So where’s the downside? Well as good as this is and as much variation as they display, it can get a little bit samey in places, especially on the vocal side of things. There are also occasions where they cross the fine line of technical excellence and stray into the territory of colossal cacophony and there were a few occasions there when I was struggling to get my head around it as a result. Overall though, this is a bloody fine example of why French metal is amongst the best in the world at the moment. Not for the weak or faint of heart, but those of you who like your metal with technical ability, violence and brutality should seek this one out.
(8/10 Lee Kimber)
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