“Unholy Path“, the song we’re premiering through a lyric video from the debut album of Sweden’s Night Crowned, is a veritable tapestry of sound, and a sumptuous feast for the senses and the imagination. Through its richly embroidered and dynamically changing contours the music is mystical and marauding, sweepingly grand and physically jolting, brooding and bombastic. It summons visions of unearthly magnificence as well as chaotic savagery. It hammers the skull and lunges for the throat with teeth bared, and it’s also spellbinding.
That’s a lot to accomplish in a single song, particularly when all the changes are so well-integrated into a cohesive experience. It’s more than one might expect from a relatively new band, but less surprising when you realize that the members of Night Crowned, combined, have been playing metal for well over 60 years, with over 15 albums in their collective catalogue through participation in such other groups as Dark Funeral, Nightrage, and Cipher System.
This new album, Impius Viam, follows the band’s 2018 debut EP, Humanity Will Echo Out (for which we premiered a great song called “Nocturnal Pulse”), and it will be released on February 28th by a new label founded by ex-Nuclear Blast veterans called Noble Demon. Which makes sense, because “Unholy Path” is a noble demon of a song.
All those sensations we attempted to summarize above are created in “Unholy Path” through an exhilarating formulation of melodic blackened death metal, one that’s composed of shimmering synths and panoramic symphonic melody, galloping cadences and blasting drum fusillades, spine-shaking bass and rippling piano keys, seething riffs and scintillating solos, scorching vocals that furiously call us to follow the unholy path… and more.
The band has commented: “When picking the first single for the album we chose ‘Unholy Path‘. A song that represents our sound and captures the essence of the album well. A dark tale of a future we soon shall experience.“
As a song that captures the essence of Impius Viam, it is obviously a very promising herald for the album as a whole. For more information about the record and how to acquire it (on CD and digital) as the February 28 release date approaches, keep an eye on the locations linked below.
NIGHT CROWNED is:
K. Romlin – Vocals
J. Jaloma – Drums
J. Eskilsson – Lead Guitar
H. Liljesand – Bass, Guitar, Keys
NIGHT CROWNED:
https://www.facebook.com/nightcrowned/
https://www.nightcrownedblacklion.bandcamp.com
NOBLE DEMON:
https://www.facebook.com/nobledemonrecords