Crown the Empire - The Fallout
Following on from the success of their EP Limitless, the addition of their new screamer Dave Escamilla, and a recent tour with Pierce the Veil, Dallas based band Crown the Empire is about to unleash their debut album The Fallout upon the UK.
In a time where you have scream/sing acts achieving success on both sides of the Atlantic, what Crown The Empire are doing is very different. From the opening track Oh, Catastrophe it is obvious there is something noteworthy about this band. The spine-tingling intro is like something out of a horror flick with piano and church bells and the addition of a vocal. As it builds with an orchestral drum roll and explodes with a sinister laugh, deeper vocal and thunder claps things really open up your mind to what you are about to experience with this album.
The way each song is developed is perfection, keeping a listener intrigued over what they will hear next. When it comes to guitars, Ben and Brandon provide solid, raw, hard hitting and fast paced riffs with the occasional subtle tone. Alongside this are Hayden's bass lines and Brent's energetic pounding drum skills, which is ever more evident on Graveyard Souls.
To go with these typical musical sounds are the more unique ones such as piano and string segments to make some more intriguing instrumentation and a theatrical approach. These aspects are evident from the start and continue throughout each and every track with orchestral aspects used to help achieve their potential. When The One You Feed adds some piano melodies to the mix you have a track that alters from the others on the album and really grasps your attention. The dramatic opening for Menace makes way for some hard hitting drumming and guitar strumming and once again screams a plenty. There are some strong string effects present making the theatrical presence remain, and the piano conclusion makes this more evident.
Vocals on this record are spilt between the screams of David Escamilla and the singing of Andy Leo, both of which are some of the strongest features of the album. Andy's voice is spot on with the music, solid, not too deep or too light and a little reminiscent of Kellin from Sleeping with Sirens. David is also a strong vocalist, able to give just the right amount of aggression and anger when he screams.
Notable tracks on this release include Makeshift Chemistry, which is one of the heaviest songs. It blasts straight in with the hard core vocal screams and sounds, but develops into a melancholy filled song as Adam singing "Operator is there anybody at all that can explain why I'd give everything and more up for her, I know it's unbelievable but something bout her I can't resist, but she doesn't even know I exist"- an emotive track with anger and heartache all rolled into four minutes. The concluding song Johnny's Revengeis also one of a kind. It has a circus themed ambiance about it, with some punk aspects reminiscent of Sum 41. If the rest of the album didn't get you pumped up and impressed, this song will do it for you. The creepy accordion fused introduction begs to be heard and we can't wait to hear more.
Crown The Empire is definitely a band worth checking out!