This Ending – Crowned In Blood
Release Date: 26th April 2024
Label: Apostasy Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
FFO: Dark Tranquility, Hypocrisy, Nightrage, Amon Amarth.
Review By: Eric Wilt
I respect an artist’s right to grow and change over the years. Sometimes bands need to alter their sound as they pursue their muse. At the same time, when a band has their sound figured out, I don’t see any reason for them to switch up what they are doing. This Ending has been making first-rate melodic death metal for nearly 20 years, and on 2024’s Crowned in Blood, they haven’t strayed far from the formula they perfected on 2006’s Inside the Machine and continued using on their subsequent albums.
It helps that This Ending is from the home of melodic death metal. Hailing from Sweden, This Ending has melo-death in their blood, and on songs like the title track, Birth of Evil, and Will of Iron, they lean heavy into the death metal side of the equation. Other songs like the instrumental Blood King and Hope in Inferno show a gentler side of melodic metal monster, complete with acoustic sections and slowed-down tempos. That leaves the rest of the album for good ol-fashioned melodic death metal with an emphasis on the melodic. Songs like A Venomous Prison, Lord, Master, King, and Emperor-All in One, and Awakening can compete with any other melodic death metal on the market these days in both composition and execution.
Although This Ending has been in the melo-death game for nearly twenty years, I have always felt like they don’t get as much attention as some of the other bands in the genre. They have been pumping out melo-death of the highest order for their entire career, and Crowned in Blood is more of the same. If you call yourself a fan of Swedish death metal, you have to give these guys a shot, and their new album is a great place to start!
(4 / 5)
