Crownshift

Crownshift is the debut album by the Finnish band of the same name, and it exists because of a promise. Daniel Freyberg, Jukka Koskinen and Heikki Saari were all in the melodic death and power metal band Norther, and when that band wound up in 2012 they agreed they would do something together again one day; Crownshift is what that became in 2019. Freyberg now plays guitar in Children of Bodom, Koskinen plays bass in Nightwish and Wintersun, Saari drums in Finntroll, and Tommy Tuovinen of MyGrain sings. Melodic death metal is still the most important style they have, Freyberg says, but the years since have made their sound a much wider thing — harsh vocals trading with clean ones, fast songs beside slow atmospheric ones, heavy metal and rock and pop and prog all drawn in. Nuclear Blast and Ward Records in Japan released it on the same day, 10 May 2024, the Japanese edition as GQCS-91462. Eight tracks, about forty-one minutes.