Kingdom Attributes Crown Gems

The eponymous album of this long-forgotten US band was originally released in 1970 on Specialty label (home of Little Richard and Sam Cooke). The music on this excellent, but rather unknown LP is best described as very energetic early heavy rock music (with some British progressive rock influences) full of powerful riffings, spontaneous guitar solos, inventive Hammond organ passages, fine melodies and numerous rhythm changes. The most notable influences were Led Zeppelin, Cream, Steppenwolf, Mountain and Buffalo Springfield. This is necessary listening for all early heavy rock fans! This CD was carefully remastered from the original, analogue source and sounds really great!

Alexander Campkin is renowned as a leading young choral composer who has been commissioned by some of the most prestigious musical organisations in Britain. True Light reveals the energy and majestic sound world that he commands, as well as qualities of reflective intimacy. His Missa Brevis was inspired by seeing a beam of sunlight pierce a cloud of moving incense, the resultant music being built around a sustained pitch, ebbing and flowing. In The First Kiss, he sets two poignant and daring Epigrams by the Greek philosopher Strato.

Former Gypsy Rose, Phenomena, and Dogface guitarist Martin Kronlund launches his new musical venture, Kings Crown: a musical alliance featuring the powerhouse british vocalist Lee Small (SHY, Phenomena, Sweet), along with Anders Skoog on keyboards, Berra Holmgren on bass and Pontus Engborg (Glenn Hughes) on drums. Kings Crown were formed in 2021 in Gothenburg, Sweden and the plan was to create a strong sound combining bluesy 1970s Hard Rock (think Deep Purple, Bad Company, Whitesnake, Rainbow), with the Swedish melodic hard rock of the 1980s. Thanks to Kronlund, strong experience in songwriting, and production, they managed to craft an exciting set of songs that were topped and completed with the terrific vocals of Lee Small, who truly shines with his exquisite of clean vocal range. The end result–great melodic Hard Rock with some rather tasty Hammond organs among all the guitars–is an exciting affair for all the lovers of the classic melodic hard rock sound and offers a truly enjoyable and entertaining listening experience.

Having celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 2020 [their first eight years spent as Crown Of Thorns], The Crown have proven themselves one of the most enduring forces in death metal. In 2021 they further up the ante with Royal Destroyer, a record that sets a new standard for the genre. "It is our album number ten, so now we are in the big boys club," says bassist Magnus Olsfelt. "I think it in some ways is our crowning achievement, and it encompasses our sound across all albums on one defining record. It's got it all - the early 90s death metal stuff, the haunting melodies, the thrash, the punk, the grind, the heavy metal and the more epic and doomy stuff."