Cobra Speed Venom

The Crown's return to Metal Blade Records was reported on 28 November 2017 as a deal covering several albums, and by then the band had already finished recording the next one at Studio Fredman. According to the label, the five members had spent most of 2017 rehearsing thirteen new songs before going into the studio. The record was made together with Fredrik Nordström: the credits name him as producer and as the one who mixed and mastered it, with the band as co-producers. Announcing it, the band said it had finally been able to make an album its own way, with all five writing, rehearsing and recording together. Johan Lindstrand sings, Marko Tervonen plays guitar, Robin Sörqvist plays lead guitar and sings backing vocals, Magnus Olsfelt plays bass and Henrik Axelsson plays drums. Sörqvist had taken over from Marcus Sunesson in 2013, and Axelsson, also of Implode, had replaced Janne Saarenpää at the beginning of 2015. The credits also list Alexander Bringsoniou on violin and cello and Kenan Avdic on synthesizer. The cover painting and the layout are by Christian Sloan Hall; in April 2019 the band reported that the artwork had been selected for the book Masterpieces 2018. Metal Blade announced the album on 8 January 2018 with a video for the first single, "Iron Crown", which also came out on 12 January as a limited seven-inch single; its B-side, "Ride the Fire", was a new song kept off the album. The album followed on 16 March 2018. Its limited first-edition digipak CD added two bonus tracks, "Nemesis Diamond" and "The Great Dying", while the vinyl held the ten songs and was pressed in black and in several coloured editions sold only in Europe or the United States. Marquee / Avalon's Japanese edition (MICP-11402) appeared two days earlier, on 14 March, with "Ride the Fire" as a thirteenth track. In Germany the album spent one week on the albums chart, entering at 34 on the chart of 23 March 2018.