If you've never heard about this band, you're not really missing a whole heck of a lot. Allen West (ex-Obituary, Six Feet Under) belts out some Obituary style guitar work. His solos are mediocre and the rhythms are pretty slow and production sound isn't the greatest. Everything was audible but just the music was a disappointment. The tremolo picked guitar riffs totally reflect West's work with Obituary, not so much with Six Feet Under from my knowledge.

This album is pretty boring. The music is just fast picked guitar alongside rhythms that just don't stick in my mind. They really needed a stronger mixing instead of this "raw" sound. I guess that's what they were aiming for was something totally underground. That's where this is at. Slow, heavy/chunky riffs on here but there's nothing special or new about them. They just sound totally like Obituary like I said minus the vocals. The vocal department was different than Obituary's. They're low bellowing throat with not much variation.

There really aren't any songs that I liked a whole lot here. Even if you are an Obituary fan like me, Southwicked doesn't do a good job musically/production wise. Nothing special here or innovative. This 4-piece band hasn't the tools to make 'Death's Crown' intrinsically noteworthy or special as I've previously mentioned. Don't expect any rhythms to be really fast on here. They're just slow and tiresome. I think that this album is one that you really have to listen to a lot to actually like it.

The lyrical topics fit the music well though. So do the vocals. Although I'd much rather listen to Obituary if I wanted to hear something totally heavy and brutal. I don't like the production sound. It's flat and you can't really hear the bass guitar. The leads are lousy too. Allen West isn't known for his innovation in that department. To me, it just sounds like he just makes something up on each solo and isn't based on any real influences. It would've been a stronger output if there were only rhythms played here.

I don't want to say buy this album right away. I would try to find some sound samples if that's possible. Expect something in the vein of Obituary definitely. Slow rhythm guitar with tremolo picking and power chords galore. I could be wrong, but to me Southwicked needs to become a growing band. Their songwriting needs improvement and overall the songs were just average. That's why I gave the album a "C" rating. I would caution you to pick this up unless your a total Obituary/Six Feet Under fan. Then okay!

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
09/07/2012 18:41