Crown the Lost - Blind Faith Loyalty

April 30, 2009

Reviewer: Jesse

What a difference this year has already been from twelve months ago.  At this point last year, I was dreading the annual Top Ten honors as I had hardly heard anything worthy of the list and the year was almost half-over.  Four full months into ’09 and I can see that I’ll have my work cut out for me trying to narrow down that list to ten come Christmas time and the newest addition to that inevitable short-list of consideration is Crown The Lost’s sophomore album entitled Blind Faith Loyalty.

Three years removed from their highly impressive (and self-released) debut, Crown The Lost  are showing exactly what I knew they were capable of on this stunning album of melodic thrash.  They’ve sharpened their skills down to a fine and deadly point and have matured their songwriting to a thing of beauty.  In fact, the opening track was goose bump-inducing after only two or three listens.  “Defame the Hypocrites” is the perfect way to kick off an album.  Give the listener a maddeningly catchy chorus and compound it with a frightening amount of emotion and you’ve hooked people instantly.  While just giving this album a few quick runs amid the stack of other cds, I kept thinking about that first track and I kept coming back to it.  Honestly, it’s the sort of song that can define a band and while not overly long or epic, it makes its point rather emphatically in just four minutes.  “Drawing the Parallel” and “Bound to Wrath” are nearly equal in their ability to etch themselves into your memory and are flat out fantastic in their own rights.

For the new listeners of Crown The Lost, the most obvious trait that people will be introduced to is the singing of Chris Renaldi.  He sings in the classical style of heavy metal and has an outstanding voice that I’m happy to know isn’t going to waste trying to grunt and scream.  There aren’t too many thrash bands that use this vocal approach and certainly not many with the talent of Renaldi behind the mic.  Coming from someone who typically prefers his metal with screams and growls, it would take a very impressive singer to gain such high praise from me.  I need an abundance of devotion and conviction and I’d say that that cup is brimming over with his singing.

Another aspect that will become very apparent to the listener is the wildly disciplined lead guitar solos that expertly weave their way into most of the songs.  Despite what you might think, the songs don’t just sort of trudge along waiting for the solo.  On the contrary, the solos follow the direction of the song so smoothly that when the vocals come back in, it’s almost an explosion of sound that I wasn’t expecting at all to the point where I don’t even remember when the solo started.  They really are that fluid and it’s that easy to get lost in the songs.

The drumming is ridiculously precise and powerful.  In fact, the production throughout is stellar.  Nothing sounds out of place or faded/tuned out to compensate for something else.  Everything was mapped out perfectly it seems.

The only things that I can pick on are that a few songs prior to the closing title-track teeter on the edge of being samey filler songs.  Nothing awful of course, but also not of the caliber of the rest of the album.  I also don’t really know what to think of the occasional growly/raspy vocals that sneak their way into a few of the songs for brief periods of time.  The clean vocals outshine them so much, that I’m not sure what exactly the point was in adding them.  Did they think that they had to branch out slightly to possibly appeal to more listeners?  Or was it just more of an idea to contrast the vocals in order to make Renaldi stand out more?  Either way, it isn’t anything bothersome, just sort of strange.

Bottom line, Blind Faith Loyalty is incredible and will more than likely still be standing at the end of the year ready to take a seat in one of those ten exclusive chairs.

Release Date: April 17th, 2009
Label: Cruz del Sur Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Defame the Hypocrites
2.  Drawing the Parallel
3.  Bound To Wrath
4.  Symbiotic
5.  Finality
6.  Dreaming In Reverse
7.  Privation
8.  Impose Your Will
9.  Hollow Refuge
10.  Blind Faith Loyalty

Total playing time:  54:40

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