Review Summary: This is the Reign of Terror! Prepare for 30 minutes of head banging.
Capture the Crown is back with their sophomore album "Reign of Terror", no one can say this band didn't take a turn for the better without listening to this well structured album. It blew my mind from the first song "To Whom it May Concern" being released a while ago. It shocked me how much that song alone changed how I saw them, the sound was nothing they have ever ventured off into, and I loved it. The fact that they had the guts to change the entire sound from one album to the next was amazing. This darker tone mixed with Jeffrey Wellfare's deep growls and cleans, with the good steady instrumental work on drums by Tyler and guitar quality from Jye and Kriso was really great to hear throughout the entire album. The main quality I heard was the band being comfortable with themselves in this album, which is a good quality for a good album to be made, and to be thoroughly enjoyed by fans.
This album's intro "Reign of Terror" is ok, it isn't anything impressive, but it's not bad. But in the intro you hear a new guitar sound and vocal pitches that weren't in the EP "Live Life" or the first album "Til Death", that itself is a curveball, carrying itself through the whole album in this manner was a little simple, though it worked quite well. The first actual song "Red Light District" was good, but " Smirk" will be the first song that really stands out to people, even though the guitar chugging is simple just like a lot of other bands, the lyrics make this song into a good party song to listen to with friends and people who enjoy the same music as you. You will hear the deep growls start to form in this song and carry over in the rest of the album. The next song "I Hate You" is a short sweet song, that says it all in the title of the track, but none the less the growls and instrumental work all around go good together to make this song a good time to listen to.
The halfway point of this album is only after the fifth song, but the last five songs will be most people's favorites. The song "Oxy Sunrise" is the best track on the album, I can just picture the repetitive chorus of this song make people jump up and down constantly, because the lyrics are very catchy and the drum work really makes it stand out on this song. The transition of that song to "Beating the Blade" is weird, but its not that noticeable, but this song is very intriguing in so many ways. For starters its the first calm song on the album, but it works well with the sound of the instrumentals. The lyrics are pretty good in this song overall, until you get about halfway into the song it gets interesting. Jeffrey raps, that is something no one ever expected, though weird enough it turned out pretty good, and when you hear a band mention there own band name in a song, I just love it, because it doesn't happen that often. Lastly the guitar work in the song, was just beautiful, and if you listen to it closely it sounds on point with the tone of the song.
The final approach is upon us with the last two tracks. First of the two, "Make War, Not love" is the best growl and screaming song on the album strictly for 40 seconds of amazing growls and high screams with Alex Koehler, with of course another catchy chorus and some guitar chugging that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. The last song "Janina" is the weakest track lyrically on the album, but its a nice sounding calm song for Jeffrey to show off his voice acoustically, its not like "The Departed", so don't listen to this song expecting the hear a resemblance. None the less a nice ending to a very well put together album, that sadly is only 10 songs long, but the 10 songs will surely leave you with a better impression and grasp on the band for the better. Capture the Crown is capable of producing none generic music and you see that in this album. They're a very talented young band that will get a lot better as they mature. The young band has a long way to go, but this album packs a punch for people to enjoy.
Songs to enjoy for a long time:
-Smirk
-Oxy Sunrise
-Firestarter
-To Whom it May Concern
