The Crown Lose Their Bassist, Which Is Actually A Really Big Deal for Them
We’re huge fans of Swedish death metallers The Crown, primarily because while so many other bands try too hard to write about “serious” topics, they consistently write songs about drag-racing with Satan or killing everyone with a hammer. But now, the band have taken a blow with the loss of founding bassist Magnus Olsfelt.
Here’s the band’s statement:
“We are very sorry to inform you that our bass player, one of the founding members of The Crown, Magnus Olsfelt has decided to leave the band. After 32 years we go separate ways. We are very sad about this, he has always put in 110% and has written tons of memorably songs and he will be missed. But this will definitely not be the end of The Crown. This will mark the first step writing a new chapter and we are extremely determined and focused to continue our journey. We are already deep into writing the follow up to Royal Destroyer and we feel that we definitely have some new Death Metal magic coming up! The process of finding a replacement will start soon. The Crown never dies!”
Olsfelt released his own statement as well:
“The Crown has been a part of my life since I was 14 years old, it’s had its highs and its lows and it has overall been a damn good race, but for me this is over now. I just don’t have the heart and inner drive to keep on doing this anymore, and that leaves me with no other alternative than to leave the band. I am grateful for all the people who have supported us in any way over the years and I hope that the band can keep on doing good in the future. Goodbye and thanks for all the memories!”
Now, look, we can hear a lot of you shrugging and saying, “So? He’s a death metal bassist” (especially Glenn Fricker). But here’s the thing: Olsfelt is actually a vital songwriter in The Crown, and supplies them with much of the madcap satanism and fun-loving blasphemy that made 2021’s Royal Destroyer such a blast.
In an interview with WMG’s The Pit last year, frontman Marko Tervonen described how Magnus influenced the band, saying:
“…usually when it comes to titles or artwork, we rely a bit on Magnus, because he’s really fucking creative, and he’s really good with words. So historically, all the cool titles, I can guarantee, came from Magnus!
“…especially musically, Magnus comes up with those types of songs now and then. It’s pretty cool — he really loves that old style, Venom and stuff like that, and that’s a pretty interesting phase in metal music, because the first thrash and black metal bands were very close to rock music. “
Long story short, we with both The Crown and Magnus all the best, but damn, both of them are going to have to find a solid fit in the near future to make up for this change in personnel.
[Via the attractive folks at Metal Injection]
