After 35 years of creativity and Death Metal mayhem – the time has come to bring The Crown‘s journey to an end.
2026 will not only mark our final year of live shows – it will be the final chapter for the band. We want to go out on our own terms, celebrating everything this band has stood for: energy, passion, and the love of extreme music. Most importantly, this farewell is for you – our fans.
Your dedication and loyalty have kept this band alive for over three decades. Every show in 2026 will be our way of saying thank you for all the years of support, the endless energy from the crowds, and for standing with us through every era of The Crown.
Throughout 2026, we’ll perform Farewell shows around the world, meeting fans one last time. Each show will be a tribute to the past, the present, and the unstoppable spirit that’s fueled The Crown since day one. Everything has its time – and this is ours.
Thank you for 35 years of loyalty, chaos, and Metal! Let’s make 2026 the grand finale it deserves!
NO TOMORROW – FAREWELL 2026
Here’s all the current dates: 10/01/26 PT Mangualde – Mangualde Hard Metal Fest 06/03/26 ES Barcelona – Sala Lennon 07/03/26 ES Valencia – Sala Zulu 08/03/26 ES Madrid – Sala Nazca 14/03/26 CH Zürich – Züri Gmätzlets 22/05/26 US Baltimore – Maryland Deathfest 25/07/26 FI Vaasa – Kaaos Festival 15/08/26 IT Francavilla al Mare – Frantic Fest 20/08/26 AT Spital am Semmering – Kaltenbach Open Air 06/11/26 SE Umeå – House Of Metal 21/11/26 SE Linköping – Platens 28/11/26 SE Skövde – Lokstallet 12/12/26 NL Eindhoven – Metal Meeting 18/12/26 SE Stockholm – Kollektivet livet 19/12/26 SE Gothenburg – Valand (FINAL SHOW)
“Gone To Hell” is the latest single from Swedish death metal legends THE CROWN. The thundering new track comes off the band’s anticipated twelfth studio album, Crown Of Thorns, set for release on October 11th through Metal Blade Records.
Elaborates THE CROWN guitarist Marko Tervonen, “‘Gone To Hell’ is a very special song in many ways. As you may have seen on our older albums, there are quite a few songs where the music is by ‘Olsfelt/Tervonen’ [referring to former bassist Magnus Olsfelt]. But that doesn’t actually mean that we wrote the song together. It was more about Magnus ‘stealing’ some riffs from me from songs that never made it to the albums. So he nicked the best stuff and included them into his songs. But ‘Gone To Hell’ was the first time we wrote something together. Magnus showed me the basic riffs to the song, on bass. We recorded it to a metronome and then I sort of ‘took over.’ I added the melodies, arranged it, wrote the drums and vocals etc. So, it was actually the only song we ever worked on together before he left the band. The song is more mid-tempo oriented; it almost has some post-punk elements to it. I personally love it and I’m super proud of it. I expect to read a lot of ‘what is this soft song shit’ from people, otherwise I will be very disappointed!“
Watch THE CROWN‘s “Gone To Hell” video, created by Anton Hallenberg and Robin Schulz:
Watch the band’s previously released video for “Churchburner” at THIS LOCATION.
Crown Of Thorns serves as the band’s dynamic follow-up to 2021’s Royal Destroyer and the record’s musical dynamics are on a new level due in no small part to the 2022 addition of drummer Mikael Norén and bassist Mattias Rasmussen as well as the return of lead guitarist Marcus Sunesson, rejoining longtime members Tervonen and vocalist Johan Lindstrand. “With Mikael, we managed to bring back a bit more of that crazy ‘Janne Saarenpää’ feel to the drumming, so that was a really cool energy boost. Mattias comes more from a punk/crust background, and he wrote ‘I Hunt With The Devil’ and ‘Mind Collapse,’ which turned out great. This is definitely a step up in many ways, changing the way we worked on the CSV and RD albums.”
It’s very few bands who have a revered and established career – THE CROWN celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2020 (their first eight years spent as Crown Of Thorns) – yet up the ante continually. With 2018’s Cobra Speed Venom the band reached the same lofty heights as their 2002 landmark release, Crowned In Terror. And with the barbaric Royal Destroyer, and now, 2024’s powerful and unique Crown Of Thorns, the metal vets rage with a rekindled fire and ferocity while honoring their roots. As Tervonen concludes, noting of Crown Of Thorns, “I guess every band needs to do a self-titled album at some point. So now we did it, our way.”
Crown Of Thorns was recorded by Marko Tervonen (Studio-MT), mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren (Black Lounge Studios).
Swedish death metal icons THE CROWN will unleash their Crown Of Thorns full-length on October 11th through Metal Blade Records.
Crown Of Thorns serves as the band’s twelfth studio album as THE CROWN and is the dynamic, groundbreaking follow-up to 2021’s Royal Destroyer. The band made distinctly different creative choices to ensure that the LP’s ten songs would stand as a unique collection. “For me, Cobra Speed Venom and Royal Destroyer are like siblings,” says guitarist Marko Tervonen. “[We wanted] to make sure that we would take a step forward, get a bit more out of our comfort zone on Crown Of Thorns. We really wanted this to sound like a new, fresh album and I believe we did it.”
The approach was full circle and inventive. “I had the idea that we should work a bit backwards. I pushed to create the artwork very early in the process. We wanted the album cover to include a bridge from our hometown Trollhättan called Strömkarlsbron. It has this cool statue on it named ‘Strömkarlen’ [a water spirit]. It made sense to loop it all back to the town where everything started; as most people know, we were called Crown Of Thorns for a few years before we had to shorten the name.”
Giannis Nakos’ final cover proved inspirational, as THE CROWN focused on the music that most complimented the piece. “I wanted something really fast, melodic, heavy, epic, punky,” explains Tervonen, “areas we’ve touched before, but step it up to a new level. And to throw in a few surprises was also part of the process.“
Musical dynamics are also on a new level with the 2022 addition of drummer Mikael Norén and bassist Mattias Rasmussen as well as the return of lead guitarist Marcus Sunesson, rejoining longtime members Tervonen and vocalist Johan Lindstrand. “With Mikael, we managed to bring back a bit more of that crazy ‘Janne Saarenpää’ feel to the drumming, so that was a really cool energy boost. Mattias comes more from a punk/crust background, and he wrote ‘I Hunt With The Devil’ and ‘Mind Collapse,’ which turned out great. This is definitely a step up in many ways, changing the way we worked on the CSV and RD albums.”
Another change is the guitar tuning: “We decided to tune up to D from C,” Tervonen points out. “We played standard E tuning on our four first albums, then we slowly went over to D and from Possessed 13 and forward we tuned down to C. So now we have reversed the course and are climbing slowly back to E! But the lighter D tuning added so much better chugs and tones that we felt might be missing a bit on some of the latest records.”
The outcome of the revitalized process and personnel is evident on the first single, “Churchburner.” “‘Churchburner’ starts out with a nod to ‘Postmortem’ [Slayer] but then explodes into quite a different type of monster,” notes Tervonen. “It has a great groove to it, and it basically has a tempo/beat that we don’t use that often. It’s mostly in triplets. It’s a very strong song with Johan being on fire here and Marcus adds a killer solo as well.”
Crown Of Thorns was recorded by Marko Tervonen (Studio-MT), mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren (Black Lounge Studios).
Crown Of Thorns Track Listing: 01. I Hunt with the Devil 02. Churchburner 03. Martyrian 04. Gone to Hell 05. Howling at the Warfield 06. The Night Is Now 07. God-King 08. The Agitator 09. Where Nightmares Belong 10. The Storm That Comes 11. Eternally Infernal (Bonus Track) 12. No Fuel for God (Bonus Track) 13. Mind Collapse (Bonus Track)
THE CROWN Live: 11/23/2024 Gothenburg Hall Of Metal – Gothenburg, SE 3/15/2025 Heidelberg Deathfest 25 – Heidelberg, DE
THE CROWN: Johan Lindstrand – vocals Marko Tervonen – guitar Marcus Sunesson – lead guitar Mattias Rasmussen – bass Mikael Norén – drums
Swedish death metal icons THE CROWN and Belgian outfit Schizophrenia band are set to embark on a tour across Europe in June 2023. The tour will include appearances at Chronical Moshers Festival and Underground Remains Festival, as well as a special performance by The Crown at Sweden Rock.
The Crown, known for their aggressive sound and high-energy live shows, will be showcasing classic songs from their extensive discography. Fans can expect to hear favourites from their early days as well as more recent hits. Schizophrenia will be promoting their latest EP, which features a blend of death and thrash metal.
Don’t miss your chance to see two of the most exciting bands in the death metal scene as they tear up stages across Europe. Tickets are available now, so get yours before they sell out!
No World to be Saved Tour June 2023 THE CROWN + special guests: SCHIZOPHRENIA Tickets: bit.ly/3zVGb4r 02/Jun DE Berlin @ Lido Berlin 03/Jun DE Göttingen @ Underground Remains Open Air 04/Jun DE Hamburg @ Bambi galore 06/Jun CH Aarburg @ Musigburg 07/Jun DE Passau @ Zauberberg Passau 08/Jun SE Sölvesborg @ SWEDENROCK 2023 * 09/Jun SK Bratislava @ FleshParty Openairfest 10/Jun DE Mühlteich Hauptmannsgrün @ 21. CHRONICAL MOSHERS OPEN AIR 2023 *Only The Crown
In 2021, The Crown released their critically acclaimed latest full-length, Royal Destroyer, via Metal Blade Records – which landed on the worldwide charts:
GERMANY #17 SWITZERLAND #51 AUSTRIA #66 UNITED STATES Debut #20 Current Hard Music Albums Debut #24 New Artist Chart Debut #148 Current Albums Chart CANADA Debut #86 Hard Music Albums
Earlier this month, THE CROWN released their critically acclaimed full-length, Royal Destroyer, via Metal Blade Records – which landed on the worldwide charts:
GERMANY #17 SWITZERLAND #51 AUSTRIA #66 UNITED STATES Debut #20 Current Hard Music Albums Debut #24 New Artist Chart Debut #148 Current Albums Chart CANADA Debut #86 Hard Music Albums
Purchase and stream Royal Destroyer now at: metalblade.com/thecrown. A new lyric video for the album track, “Beyond the Frail”, can also be viewed below:
Having celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 2020 [their first eight years spent as Crown Of Thorns], The Crown have proven themselves one of the most enduring forces in death metal. In 2021, they further up the ante with Royal Destroyer, a record that sets a new standard for the genre. “It is our album number ten, so now we are in the big boys club,” says bassist Magnus Olsfelt. “I think it in some ways is our crowning achievement, and it encompasses our sound across all albums on one defining record. It’s got it all – the early 90s death metal stuff, the haunting melodies, the thrash, the punk, the grind, the heavy metal and the more epic and doomy stuff.”
With 2018’s Cobra Speed Venom, the band reached the same lofty heights as their 2002 landmark release, Crowned In Terror, but they were primed and ready to write its successor. “It surely set the bar up high for a follow up,” Olsfelt explains. “But it’s more inspiring than daunting. We have a real good vibe in the band, so we know we are capable of creating great stuff if we all just put our hearts to it and work hard.” Confident, they pushed ahead, with the idea of making a sequel to Cobra Speed Venom – a sequel meaning “more of everything”.
Together with legendary producer Fredrik Nordström, the band tracked the resulting 10 songs at Gothenburg’s Studio Fredman. “We push ourselves to the limit, really trying to make everything as good as it can get, trying to make every song as impactful as possible,” Olsfelt states. While he believes that people need to hear the album themselves to be able to accurately describe it, Olsfelt also asserts that The Crown have achieved something that makes for a “continuous whole” – while being diverse. There are also some surprises in store for fans. “We have some of the most intense stuff ever, like one song is about one minute long, and we also have a ballad!”
Yesterday, March 12th, THE CROWN released their new album, Royal Destroyer, via Metal Blade Records. For a preview of Royal Destroyer, a lyric video for “Scandinavian Satan” can be viewed here:
Bassist Magnus Olsfelt comments: “‘Scandinavian Satan’. The music inspired from the early days of extreme metal, first generation black metal, a raw kind of barbaric metal rock’n roll. Even though inspired by history and days gone by, this is not by any means ‘retro’, but takes its aim firmly set on the future. The lyrics are taken from the Völuspa, at least 1000 years old, but maybe still valid today and even more in the future of days? The epic cover art made by Christian Sloan Hall depicts the burning remains of a great tree, which is symbolic of the old Scandinavian worldview with its roots still intact, above this a golden crown is magically shining. In the distance, there is a great battle and an undead warrior appears, perhaps with the cut-off heads of the 3 norns, who represent what is, what has been past and what shall come to be. The undead warrior approaches the crown. The sky is shot with lightning. The axe is lifted with a piercing wail…What shall happen next?”
Having celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 2020 [their first eight years spent as Crown Of Thorns], The Crown have proven themselves one of the most enduring forces in death metal. In 2021, they further up the ante with Royal Destroyer, a record that sets a new standard for the genre. “It is our album number ten, so now we are in the big boys club,” says bassist Magnus Olsfelt. “I think it in some ways is our crowning achievement, and it encompasses our sound across all albums on one defining record. It’s got it all – the early 90s death metal stuff, the haunting melodies, the thrash, the punk, the grind, the heavy metal and the more epic and doomy stuff.”
With 2018’s Cobra Speed Venom, the band reached the same lofty heights as their 2002 landmark release, Crowned In Terror, but they were primed and ready to write its successor. “It surely set the bar up high for a follow up,” Olsfelt explains. “But it’s more inspiring than daunting. We have a real good vibe in the band, so we know we are capable of creating great stuff if we all just put our hearts to it and work hard.” Confident, they pushed ahead, with the idea of making a sequel to Cobra Speed Venom – a sequel meaning “more of everything”.
Together with legendary producer Fredrik Nordström, the band tracked the resulting 10 songs at Gothenburg’s Studio Fredman. “We push ourselves to the limit, really trying to make everything as good as it can get, trying to make every song as impactful as possible,” Olsfelt states. While he believes that people need to hear the album themselves to be able to accurately describe it, Olsfelt also asserts that The Crown have achieved something that makes for a “continuous whole” – while being diverse. There are also some surprises in store for fans. “We have some of the most intense stuff ever, like one song is about one minute long, and we also have a ballad!”
Royal Destroyer track-listing 1. Baptized in Violence 2. Let the Hammering Begin! 3. Motordeath 4. Ultra Faust 5. Glorious Hades 6. Full Metal Justice 7. Scandinavian Satan 8. Devoid of Light 9. We Drift On 10. Beyond the Frail
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