The Burning

The Crown started out in 1990 as a raw death/thrash band with a streak of grindcore, and its first name was Crown of Thorns. The 1993 demo Forever Heaven Gone drew attention in the underground and earned the band a slot at the Hultsfred festival, but founding guitarist Robert Österberg left soon afterwards over musical differences. Marcus Sunesson took his place in 1994, just before the second demo, Forget the Light, was recorded, and that tape led to a contract with Black Sun Records, a new Swedish label. The album was recorded at Berno Studio in April and May 1995. The band produced it together with Berno Paulsson, it was mastered at Digitalfabriken, and the cover artwork is by Kristian Wåhlin, also known as Necrolord. Johan Lindstrand sang, Marko Tervonen and Sunesson played guitar, Magnus Olsfelt bass and Janne Saarenpää drums. Of the eleven songs, "The Lord of the Rings" and "Forever Heaven Gone" come from the first demo, and "Soulicide Demon-Might", "Godless", "Neverending Dream" and "Candles" from the second; the other five appear on neither tape. The lyrics of "The Lord of the Rings" are credited to J.R.R. Tolkien and the music of "Forever Heaven Gone" to Österberg. Black Sun Records released the CD in June 1995 under the name Crown of Thorns, catalogue number BS 005, with eleven tracks running 45 minutes and 9 seconds. A video was made for "Of Good and Evil" and shown on MTV, ZTV and Viva, and the same year the band covered Slayer's "Mandatory Suicide" for Slatanic Slaughter, a tribute album on Black Sun. After the band became The Crown in 1997, Century Media reissued the record in the United States in 2002 under the new name, with the "Of Good and Evil" video added, and in 2023 Dissonance Productions paired it with Eternal Death in a two-disc set.