Review by Michael on March 8, 2021.

Wow, I'm in for another big surprise in my old age. Last album I bought (and still own) from The Crown is now 23 years old. After the Hell is Here they could not really convince me anymore but with Royal Destroyer it's different.

After a short intro, The Crown hit out with 'Let The Hammering Begin' the first cool song. The guitar riffs remind me quite a bit of old Slayer in places and the drums set a furiously fast tempo.'Motordeath' is a pretty cool song title and from the structures of it, a typicalThe Crown song. 'Ultra Faust' (also a cool name, because Faust means fist in German), which starts pretty dragging, but in the further course increases in speed and from the vocals and intonation reminds me of David Vincent in "Illud Divinum Insanus" times. 'Glorious Hades' is almost an epic song already in which the guitars remind me of Bathory's Viking phase. A pretty calm mid tempo song that spreads great atmosphere.

The next two tracks are again typical The Crown songs, which offer no big surprises. 'Devoid of Light' is a homage to Morbid Angel at "Domination" times. The song structures and the vocals at the beginning sound absolutely like "Where the Slime Lives", but the song picks up speed little by little. 'We Drift On' is another slow song, which strongly reminds of old Metallica or Heathen from the guitar arrangements. A song that definitely creates goosebumps and leaves you slightly melancholic. 'Beyond the Frail' at the end is another highspeed song, which however does not beat through continuously, but offers a certain variety.

The question remains. Why haven't I really paid attention to The Crown in years, but find Royal Destroyer really compelling? I think it's because of the varied songs that don't sound the same as in the past, but offer some surprises. Cool disc!!!!

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Krys on February 21, 2002.

First of all The Defaced, according to Mattias (guitar) is not just another side project and even though 3 out of 5 members come from Darkane (Jorgen and Klas) and Soilwork (Henry) all of them approach this band very seriously and it shows.

For those of you who are hoping for a mix of the two aforementioned bands, I don’t have good news. The Defaced is not just another Swedish melodic death metal outfit but rather an imaginative, innovative group of people playing a new version of thrash with influences from early Machine Head and the alternative Seattle scene.

As expected from a thrashy band, fast and dynamic guitars are the core of their music and create a very energetic and grooving background for the mostly clear but muscular vocals of Henke. A very tight rhythm section that goes hand in hand with each stroke of the guitars manufactures a heavy feel to what are often quite melodic tunes, keeping them from crossing that much fan-hated ‘commercial’ line.

Due to almost limitless musicianship, most of the tracks have a wide variety of tempos, riffs and vocal styles to keep “Domination Commence” interesting from start to end. While songs like ‘Stoner’ or ‘Fanatic Minds’ will hit you full-force, the more toned-down and laid back ‘Sown by Greed’ and ‘Prozak Nation’ provide a nice variance and much missed element of surprise in many of today’s releases.

Bottom Line: Very impressive debut and well worth the purchase for fans of aggressive and dynamic music.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 9
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.2 out of 10