Skan – Death Crown

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In this world of fast communication, so little time to stay with people, of so many bands playing the same genre, of streaming songs and even less CDs purchases, how can a band stand out?

Skan with “Death Crown” did their best. “Death Crown” is an album of many tempo plot twists, of creative guitar playing envolving the song in a zepellinian atmosphere of not only chaos, but also beauty. Some songs are contemplative like “The Womb,” where you can feel all the despair of being in there. Those musical ideas are the ones that make Metal great. Skan are a band that worry about musical greatness, a band that looks for different musical direction. It is not innovative (ah, what a controverted term innovation is), but creative and personnal. One may say that this technique is pretty worn-out, that many bands have using it for a long time, but it does work, and well.

“Father Qayin,” for instance, starts wtih some fingered passages to go to an uptempo pure death metal blast, and then, a sudden slow down guitar solo to beauty up the song. The constrast Skan used in this “Father Qayin” is pretty convincing. As I have been telling, Metal is a very well suceeded genre because it deals with a wide range of human emotions, not only the plastic and false happiness that other genres do. I am no gangster, I do not appreciate dancing, I am sad most of the times, so pop music has nothing to offer me. But Skan do with their mix of death metal and Pink Floyd, if I may.

But the best was left for the last. The mix of emotion that Skan do in “For the Love of Death” is pretty remarkable. “For the Love of Death” uses a lot of crescendos to express anger, wrath, and fear and an embellishing guitar with very well chosen and caring notes. Skan are not a riff band, but the one which care a lot of the harmonic progression that they play. It is noteworth how the more than eleven minutes of “For the Love of Death” evolve. Each passage is well though, well prepared. Like a craftsman. Pay attention to the guitar solos in it. Not fast, but build up note by note.

Skan“Death Crown” will be crowned on April 13th via Ván Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Initium
  2. Death Wish
  3. A Mort
  4. The Womb
  5. Au Dela
  6. Iron & Blood
  7. Father Qayin
  8. For The Love Of Death

Watch “Father Qayin” live video here:

https://youtu.be/F75cWgS1EUc