I got this cassette demo when I ordered a big pile of CDs, and had never before heard about Northcrown. The band comes from a small town called Huittinen, Finland. This is the band's second demo.

The band offer us some viking metal in vein of Bathory ('Blood on Ice' -era [1996]) and such. Song number four actually sounds a bit, and only a bit, like Irish dark wizards Primordial. Northcrown's problem is, that they don't offer anything what we haven't heard before in this genre. The songs are similar, simple and monotonous, even though not very long when compared to many other strive of this style of metal music.

Vocals sound like they come from a drain pipe! They are also growled, but still I can hear that vocalists English pronouncing isn't good at all, actually it is very Finnish. Too fucking Finnish! The music itself sounds good enough for a demo, but still the production is abyssal. I bet this is a home recording. There a few spoken lines, because this demo tells a story of Danish king Beowulf. This has 4-color cover and it looks really great, with lyrics and all.

One for the viking and pagan metal freaks, who want to check everything out from that stuff. Simply too familiar, too tame and pretty much boring. I won't crown this band, not by this demonstration.

Reviewed by Lane
06/03/2002 20:17