“Speed Kills”: The Crown Deathraces in Second New Song

Fans of Carcass, Atheist, Coroner, and every other 2k reunited superband will understand the thrill of this thought: After an eternity, The Crown is busy lately! The week before Thanksgiving, it was announced that they’ll play Hellfest in June (Faith No More, Obituary, and At The Gates too); then the day before Thanksgiving, they shared a six minute clip of rehearsal with returned singer Johan Lindstrand, their Hetfield-looking new guitarist Robin Sorqvist, and touring drummer Henrik Axelsson; a week after Thanksgiving comes “Speed Kills” (below), the second jam from this line-up’s first album, Death Is Not Dead (out January 13). It rips! As a cherry on top, North America pre-orders arrived with it! Imagine me striding through a sun-soaked field, gathering flowers and bunnies in my arms. That’s how this feels!

Now let’s back up to that new drummer: Henrik Axelsson is big. In that rehearsal clip’s first half, he seems really sharp. In its second, he rips all over a signature Crown jam. Also we may agree that a kick-ass live drummer will be very valuable to fans of the new album, ones who aren’t hog-wild for its programmed drums. (Do they seem off to you?) That is, he’ll make awesome new jams awesomer. Plus, if he’s as young as he looks, he’s likely to pump up all Crown favorites like a pissed off young guy does. (Again, we know he sounds awesome in the crazy section of “Crowned In Terror”.) So that’s huge too! All that’s left is announcement of US shows! Hurrah!!

The Crown’s eighth album Death Is Not Dead is out January 13 via Century Media. Pre-order here.