THE CROWN Guitarist: 'We're All Determined To Do This Our Way This Time'

Metal Sucks recently conducted an interview with guitarist Marko Tervonen of reunited Swedish death/thrash metallers THE CROWN. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Sucks: Was [former THE CROWN vocalist] Johan Lindstrand approached to be a part of the reformation of THE CROWN? Does he support the new lineup?

Marko: He supports the new lineup. Actually when I talked to him about DOBERMANN, he asked me why we don't use the name THE CROWN, so he's cool with it.

Johan was asked to join us for the DOBERMANN ride, but he was too busy with his ONE MAN ARMY band. So we started looking for other options. And when we discovered that Jonas was the man, we at that time decided to use the name THE CROWN. We kind of discovered how much like THE CROWN everything sounded, so in the end it would have been plain silly to call it something else.

Metal Sucks: Please talk about DOBERMANN. I'm very curious about that band name, and how at first this wasn't being described as the return of THE CROWN. Was there ever an intention to record and tour as DOBERMANN?

Marko: In about 2005 Magnus [Osfelt, THE CROWN bassist] got contacted by Andreas "Whiplasher" Bergh about creating a hard thrash-act under the name DOBERMANN. While the music slowly was taking form, one after another the old CROWN musicians were being asked to help out. Finally the band consisted of all the old CROWN musicians + Whiplasher. As it turned out Whiplasher was too busy singing and fronting DEATHSTARS and so also the original name and idea of the band DOBERMANN was lost. Jonas Stålhammar (ex-UTUMNO, MACABRE END/GOD MACABRE, currently in BOMBS OF HADES) was asked and stepped in to be the new singer. After long hesitation we decided to pick up the name THE CROWN again.

Metal Sucks: Were there any issues with re-announcing this project as THE CROWN? Once you were set to announce that this is the new version of THE CROWN, did you four seek approval (so to speak) from Johan? Are you guys the sole owners of THE CROWN name?

Marko: We hesitated a lot. First we wanted to have a completely different name. But when the album started to take form, everything just sounded so CROWN. First we thought, "Well, maybe we should call us something CROWN-related after a song or album," until someone said "Fuck it, let's do this as THE CROWN". When we decided to go that way, it all just felt great. And scary too, to be honest… We're all determined to do this our way this time. No bullshit, just good death metal albums and shows.

Metal Sucks: Can you describe the brief tenure of Andreas Bergh? What part did he play in DOBERMANN becoming THE CROWN?

Marko: Since the name "DOBERMANN" was Andreas' idea, it felt natural to change it after his departure. So I guess if Andreas would have stayed, we would have never considered the "return." Well, you never know…He managed to contribute with some lyrics to one song.

Metal Sucks: What has changed musically for the members of THE CROWN? Each record came with a slightly different tint, be it a rock n' roll attitude, savagely heavy melodic death-thrash, or horror movie theatrics; what can we expect for the next album?

Marko: This album must have the best collection of riffs that has ever been on a CROWN album. It's really intense and pretty catchy at the same time. For me this sounds like the bastard son of "Deathrace King" and "Possessed 13". We have strong songs and the performance has been tweaked up a few notches. I really must mention Janne's effort on this album, it's by far his best performance. It's really incredible that after a few years of "resting," he comes back and plays everything better, faster and more accurately. Plus that he decided to learn all the songs switching his right and left hands…It's insane…he's a monster!

Read the entire interview from Metal Sucks.

THE CROWN 2009 is:

* Jonas Stålhammar (GOD MACABRE, MACABRE END, ABHOTH) - Vocals
* Marko Tervonen - Rhythm Guitar
* Marcus Sunesson - Lead Guitar
* Magnus Olsfelt - Bass
* Janne Saarenpää - Drums

THE CROWN split up more than five years ago due to "too many tours gone bad due to not at all professional tour arrangements," according to a March 2004 statement released by Saarenpää. He added, "Coming home from tours with empty pockets, equipment falling apart and having a pile of bills on the doorstep is simply 'horns down'. Paying the bills with tour memories and floorscores is just not possible. We do love standing on stage but we don't know much about the business part, and that's a bad combination."

THE CROWN's video for the track "Face Of Destruction/Deep Hit Of Death" — which was filmed in Germany in August 2003 — can be viewed below. The song was the first single off the group's final CD, "Possessed 13", which was released in October 2003 through Metal Blade. The self-produced effort, which was recorded at Gothenurg's Studio Fredman during May-June 2003, was made available in a special limited-edition double-CD digipack, featuring a bonus CD that contained the band's 1993 "Forever Heaven Gone" and 1994 "Forget The Light" demos, a cover of BATHORY's "Burnin' Leather", and a demo version of "Rebel Angel" (off 2000's "Deathrace King" CD).

For more information, visit www.thecrownofficial.com.

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