Style: Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Alternative Metal (Mixed vocals)
Review by: Mathis
Country: Netherlands
Release date: 08 April 2022
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our heart” – WTP. This happened to be the case when I discovered Crown Compass. It was a small discovery that led to great joy, but we at The Progressive Subway discover awesome artists and bands all the time. So, what makes Crown Compass different than any other band I have come across? Well, Crown Compass are special because they’re a supergroup composed of musicians from Cynic, Exivious, Textures, and Pestilence. Usually underground artists tend to be newcomers, so I was definitely looking forward to what Crown Compass’ collective experience would bring to the table. Spoiler alert: their debut The Drought did not disappoint!
What I found most notable about The Drought is how unorthodox it is juxtaposed with other thrash acts I have heard. My guess is that this is largely due to each member’s experience and style they bring to Crown Compass. While this is certainly thrash metal, it isn’t much like Voivod, Vektor, or Mekong Delta. The Drought is quite a bit deathier than these bands. There is more chug and death metal tone in each riff, it’s much more similar to what you would hear from Gojira back in the day. Crown Compass just adds a shot of nitrous to reach 220 BPM.
The Drought offers more than just thrash-y death metal, or death-y thrash metal. The album unexpectedly opens with a soft and subdued acoustic piece that acts as the opening scene of this depressing play. Like many other progressive albums, this one is a concept album. The Drought is down to earth though! Similar to The Reticent’s storytelling, many of the stories told by Crown Compass are tragic matters of fact. Each track on The Drought is a tale of a struggling individual, whether that be Gilbert dealing with a volatile work environment, or the drunken diver that longs to join the soul of the woman’s carcass he discovered on the beach. I’m not kidding when I say this album is harsh, but if you wanna ditch the emotional stuff you can enjoy it still, just avoid reading the lyrics.
Fortunately, Crown Compass did decide to exercise a few of thrash metal’s essential core principles. I counted eight guitar solos in The Drought, and some songs have multiple solos in them. One of these eight is actually a bass solo, and throughout the album there are plenty of prominent basslines to supplement that standalone solo. The percussion is fast paced and technical at times, but also leaves space to avoid any unnecessary noise. It isn’t just a high hat massacre with snare shots on every other beat, the drumming is thrashy but well thought out, and executed flawlessly.
My favorite track on the album is “Ecdysis”, which focuses on a man struggling with how society has progressed and his decision to embrace it or reject it. This song is incredibly chaotic, so much so that it verges on mathcore. The chaos perfectly parallels the turbulence and discord that rages in the man’s mind, but amid the nonsensical screams, shouts, and growls is a charming chorus that infiltrates the brain and brings a high like no other. I believe the chorus is meant to reflect the comfort the man finds in clinging to what’s familiar, but maybe I’m just projecting…. It could just be that Joe Tal is a musical genius and writes epic choruses. “Gilbert” and “A Limited Number of Heartbeats” support this theory with their captivating choruses.
A handful of the tracks on The Drought are on the longer side, which is to be expected of progressive metal. However, some of these songs are about a minute too long with their extended outros. I would have liked to see maybe one or two more tracks, especially because two of the songs on the album are instrumental, and one of these is a reprise. It would have been fun to have a shorter pure thrash song, and maybe a shorter ballad-esque song as well.
I have learned that very few albums are perfect, and even fewer debut albums are perfect. I just can’t help but be excited when I find a supergroup all of a sudden my expectations are through the roof, but one or two members from a variety of successful musical groups doesn’t guarantee the release of a historic album. The Drought is not historic, and probably won’t ever be considered essential thrash or prog metal, but it is certainly deserving of opening this review with a Winnie the Pooh quote.
Recommended tracks: Ecdysis, Gilbert
Recommended for fans of: Gojira, Textures, Stam1na
You may also like: The Offering
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Independent
Crown Compass is:
– Daniël de Jongh (vocals)
– Joe Tal (guitars)
– Robin Zielhorst (bass)
– Yuma van Eekelen (drums)
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