{"id":57106,"date":"2018-04-02T16:08:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T21:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=57106"},"modified":"2018-04-05T19:32:27","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T00:32:27","slug":"headless-crown-century-of-decay-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2018\/headless-crown-century-of-decay-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Headless Crown | Century of Decay"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n\u2014 Managing Editor \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Swiss Metal band Headless Crown are back with their second album, Century of Decay<\/em>, with a narrative heavily influenced by the likes of Science Fiction writers a’la Phillip Dick, and a sound just as heavily influenced by the likes of Judas Priest, Saxon and Accept. Sound like something you want to hear? Good, because you should \u2026<\/p>\n

Headless Crown was formed back in 2011, although their debut didn’t reach the light of day until 2015. Back in 2011, if you remember the band Silver Dirt, that’s where lead singer Steff Perrone came from. They were a different animal, a Hard Rock band that was more Sleaze and glitz than Metal, but Perrone certainly morphed into exactly what Headless Crown needed as the voice of the band, and also the main storyteller behind the tale of Century of Decay.<\/em><\/p>\n

The album opens with title track and it’s a burner; all angst and darkness and hopelessness. \u201cIn this city, there’s not hope; just a shade of dark and gray.\u201d The churning riffs do hearken back to bands like Accept and even more so Metal Church\u2014it’s full on Heavy Metal time here. Guitarist Manu Froehlicher formed the band with Perrone, and his blistering leads and solos are not offset by the fact he even created the intricate cover art. This release is in every essence of the idea, a true band project.<\/p>\n

If there’s anything less radiant than grey, it doesn’t sound like it on the second track, \u201cRadiant in Grey.\u201d This is a song about being caught up in Big Brother’s Machine, just another sub-human cog meant to produce for the Industrial Society. \u201cWhat is it worth living for? A nameless identity \u2026 I am no more.\u201d Where Perrone usually sings with a controlled aggression, this song does go harsher vocally at times. Like most of the songs on Century of Decay,<\/em> this song is pulled along by minimalistic lyrics and a huge wall of sound.<\/p>\n

Each song grows bleaker, and \u201cGrinder of Souls\u201d certainly matches that definition. Throughout the story, the unnamed main character is only kept alive by his dreams of a better life, that maybe someday he will find a reason to exist outside the soiled air of his mechanical surroundings where no one is an individual.<\/p>\n

So the main character formulates a plan to escape, which breathes new life into the story on \u201cPlan 9.\u201d Perrone sings with a bit of lower toned Geoff Tate during the opening verses, a nod to Operation: Mindcrime<\/em> one can intuitively leap to. This one of the slower yet chunkiest guitar passages songs, with Doomy riffs and antiseptic, nearly non-musical melodies. In other words \u2026 it seems The Machine is winning, no matter what dreams may come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe End\u201d is not really the end, yet, but it’s the breaking point for the main character. He’s had it; death is better than his non-existence. The day is set\u2014he’s going to escape or die. There’s still a slight bit of hope in the lyrics, but there’s a reason this is a dystopian tale. You can’t help but hear some Iron Maiden in the galloping riffs from Froehlicher and the other guitarist, Ced Legger.<\/p>\n

Not to ruin the ending, because you’ll have to hear it and dissect it for yourself, the final track \u201cDegree Absolute\u201d is the culmination of his attempt to escape, his burgeoning hope, and then as the French-speaking Swiss would call it, the denouement. With fevered riffs, completely machine-like drumming from Carlos Bensabat, and vocals bereft of the idea that the sun also rises tomorrow \u2026 this is the end.<\/p>\n

Century of Decay<\/em> is basically one cool ass album by some gifted musicians who understand where Heavy Metal came from, how to make it original and bring it into the now, and also, how to write an intriguing story around the entire sonic landscape.<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Line-Up:
\nSteff Perrone – Lead Vocals
\nManu Froelicher – Guitar
\nCed Legger – Guitar
\nMack Machet – Bass
\nCarlos Bensabat – Drums<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\n01. Century Of Decay
\n02. Radiant In Grey
\n03. The Blackness
\n04. Grinder Of Souls
\n05. Listen
\n06. Plan 9
\n07. Outermind Travel
\n08. The End
\n09. The Eyes Of The Crow
\n10. The Manipulators Of Dreams
\n11. Degree Absolute<\/p>\n

Label: Massacre Records<\/p>\n

Online: http:\/\/www.headlesscrown.com\/<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/headlesscrown.official<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 8.2 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller \u2014 Managing Editor \u2014 Swiss Metal band Headless Crown are back with their second album, Century of Decay, with a narrative heavily influenced by the likes of Science Fiction writers a’la Phillip […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15129],"tags":[14385,14383,14380,11193,14384,14382,780,12354,14381],"class_list":{"0":"post-57106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2018","8":"tag-carlos-bensabat","9":"tag-ced-legger","10":"tag-century-of-decay","11":"tag-headless-crown","12":"tag-mack-machet","13":"tag-manu-froelicher","14":"tag-massacre-records","15":"tag-music-review","16":"tag-steff-perrone"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}