Death Is Not Dead

Johan Lindstrand rejoined The Crown in September 2011, and Jonas Stålhammar stepped down. In March 2012 Lindstrand said five or six new songs were in rehearsal and that guitarist Marko Tervonen would engineer and mix the next album. The first concert with Lindstrand back took place on 5 May 2012 at Sticky Fingers in Gothenburg, the band's first show in that city for twelve years. In February 2013 the band reported that recording was under way and introduced its new lead guitarist, Robin Sörqvist, previously of Impious. Bassist Magnus Olsfelt said the songwriting was split between him and Tervonen as in the old days. The songs were tried out in the rehearsal room and then recorded whenever the members had time, so the studio work alone took over a year. The biggest problem was that drummer Janne Saarenpää had moved to California, which left Tervonen to play the drums; Henrik Axelsson drummed only on "Eternal", a Paradise Lost cover, and on the bonus track "Agent Orange", a Sodom cover. Tervonen produced, recorded and mixed the album at N3 Studio, and Dragan Tanaskovic mastered it at Bohus Sound Recording. The cover artwork is by Björn Gooßes of Killustrations. Olsfelt also said that playing old songs such as "Death by My Side" on the band's first tour of Japan had revived the melancholic side of its sound. Century Media announced it on 17 September 2014 as the band's eighth studio album, due on 12 January 2015 in Europe and a day later in North America; the same day's news reported that Saarenpää had left. The band framed the album as a celebration of its 25th anniversary, and it was preceded on 27 October 2014 by Headhunter, the band's first-ever seven-inch single, limited to 1,000 copies and backed with a cover of Napalm Death's "Unfit Earth". The Japanese edition came out first, on 24 December 2014, with fourteen tracks: the limited digipak's two bonus tracks plus "Candles - Burn Again". A remastered reissue with all four bonus tracks appeared on the streaming services in February 2026.