Review by Tobias on March 29, 2002.

Even after the dust settled from Deathrace King, I never realized how apropos the name The Crown really is. Now the kings of all that is intense are back with raging depth and voracious sound in their latest release.

This album is loud as hell. Lots of albums are as well, but unlike the masses, Crowned In Terror has a sense of depth and three-pronged whipping precision that will strike you in many places at once.

The rhythm section alone could bore a hole through the earth. Faster than a jackrabbit on crack and heavier than a pile-driver, the only drawback here is that this rage machine can occasionally drown out the ripping six-stringers.

Marko and Marcus burn well patterned welts on you before you can blink with dynamic and refreshingly varied styles resulting in uniquely identifiable tracks. This ability to make each song a separate entity is often a skill that is grossly under-dispersed in most extreme metal bands. Although there are times when the guitars can sound on the verge of being out of control, those times seem to fit the music very well as demonstrated in some of my favorite tracks Speed of Darkness and Out for Blood. The creativity and diversity shown by these two really push this album over the top.

Our man Tomas utterly destroys with his delivery on the mic. While many people may concede to the point that death screams like those of The Crown and The Haunted can be and are often easily replicated in many bands, it is that fine point of delivery that makes the difference; the timing and infused intensity make for a blazingly fantastic performance. It’s that delivery which will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when listening to tracks like the insta-classic Death is the Hunter.

While the music played here doesn’t rock the scales of originality, the deft intensity and propensity with which The Crown assaults the listener cranks turns all the judgment dials up a few notches.

Bottom Line: It makes my nipples hard! When this album is unleashed, come hell or high water, you’d better be on it.

Categorical Rating Breakdown
Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 8
Originality: 9
Overall: 10

Rating: 9.2 of 10

Review by Felix on August 4, 2019.

Satyricon's reputation is, in my humble opinion, much bigger than their music. Not to mention their attitude. How much black metal is in their heads and how many commercial thoughts? Indeed, the dudes released a monument of Norwegian blackness. Needless to say, that I am talking of Nemesis Divina. But this masterpiece was released in 1996 and how long can you rest on your laurels? 

Now, Diabolical starts strong, but it is an ambivalent work and all in all, it prolongates the row of underperforming Satyricon outputs. It houses songs that try to score with rather primitive patterns and some of them are reduced to the essentials. Unusual effects do not show up. It seems as if the duo has challenged itself: can we create a hellish atmosphere without any gimmicks? Not really. Wide parts of the album obey to a pretty tedious one-tempo-approach. This is not K.I.N.G., this is T.I.R.I.N.G., to express it politely.

Speaking of "K.I.N.G.", this piece belongs to the trio at the beginning of the running order. No doubt, this start program creates a pretty demonic mood and a catchy chorus like that of the title track shows that the band knows how to take advantage of the dogma "minimum effort, maximum result". But listening to the entire album makes painfully clear that this approach does not build a solid fundament for nearly 45 minutes. Some tunes remain blatantly meaningless. The guitar leads of the closer are dragging on and an. It has a playtime of eight minutes and nobody knows why, because everything is said after the first three or four minutes. And what was the intention behind the recording of the calm parts of "The Rite of Our Cross"? Maybe it is not fair or an ironic twist of fate that I pick out a song which has the most heterogeneous structure after having mentioned the lack of tempo changes. But breaks, only fools do not share this opinion, are never an end in itself. With that said, it cannot be ignored that the very low degree of intensity marks another disadvantage of that song.

By the way, "Delirium" also holds some very calm sections. They sound like the blurred visions of a confused Norwegian in an overcrowded Dutch coffee shop. The guys of Carpathian Forest like these sections, because they also have some of these strange sounds in their portfolio. But the next dope control is probably just around the corner and I don't want to become the plaything of some policemen gone mad. These dudes should rather take care of talented musicians who release quite half-baked works. Admittedly, the coherent and vehement "That Darkness Shall Be Eternal", the late highlight, spreads almost violent vibes. Nevertheless, this work does not match my understanding of black metal, inter alia due to the sterile touch of the general approach and the equally lifeless production. Don't get me wrong, I am listening to an album with a professional mix, but everything is so miserably mature that the true spirit of black metal lies buried beneath the hundred layers of this maturity. Euronymous would hate Now, Diabolical, but I am a little bit more tolerant.

Rating: 6.8 out of 10