Crown The Empire isn’t your average metalcore band. Oh wait, yes they are. Crown The Empire is a six piece band from Dallas, Texas. Currently, they are signed to Rise Records (shocker) and release their debut album The Fallout on November 20th. If you’re looking for something new, exciting, and original, then stop right here. The Fallout does little to provide any of that in the forty minutes it encompasses. The first song, “Oh, Catastrophe”, begins with a slow piano intro that builds up into a theatrical song that serves as the introduction. The voice in this song and the style in which the song, and many other songs, is done reminds me of My Chemical Romance. The second song, “The Fallout”, speeds it up but still continues with the piano theme. The screaming that comes in shortly is nothing breathtaking or impressive. The vocal effects used throughout the entire album add nothing to the quality and begin to get annoying after the first time. The clean singing also appears in this song and it sounds like many other bands as well. The singing, while catchy at times, sounds autotuned and turns me off of the music. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve heard it all before. As the album progresses, the next song gets slightly better than the last one, save for “The One You Feed”. This song is an attempt at an all clean singing, piano backed song. Because the clean vocals are not that great to begin with, this track just flops and I count the seconds until the end. This is a shame because the previous song “Makeshift Chemistry”, was one of the highlights on the album. The final song “Johnny’s Revenge” is perhaps the strangest of them all. This song has an intro that sounds like it has been ripped right out of a child’s nightmare. However, the chorus is very memorable and I’m going to have “I feel alive when I have blood. Your blood.” stuck in my head for hours.
The guitars riffs used throughout The Fallout don’t do much to keep me interested. All of the riffs sound the same on every song and the breakdowns don’t liven the music at all. The drumming is standard, but nothing special. The piano is an instrument used to try and make this band stand out from the others, but fails in that regard. The piano doesn’t suit the music well and sticks out in the parts that it is used. Overall, there is nothing brilliant with the instrumentation or anything else for that matter.
Crown The Empire tries too hard to be unique and ultimately this is their downfall. With many influences (My Chemical Romance, Motionless In White, etc.) drawn from across multiple genres, The Fallout still sounds like your average metalcore album, just with a couple of extra additions. There is nothing here to bring me back for a second listen, but I’m sure some people will enjoy this album nonetheless.
Links: Facebook
