Crown the Lost are a melodic/technical thrash band from Pennsylvania, with a few members formerly of the band Sinning Is Our Savior. The band is comprised of Chris Renaldi on lead vocals, Joe Bonaddio on lead guitars & vocals, David E. Gehlke on rhythm guitar, Ryan Eicheldinger on bass, and Jon Rice on drums. Reverence Dies Within contains nine songs of expertly played thrash that, musically speaking, at times borders on melodic death metal, save for the clean vocals of Chris Renaldi, who has a soaring delivery more noticeable in the power and progressive metal genres. There are the occasional growls thrown in here, but for the most part Renaldi takes his melodic and clean style and shoots for the stars over the tight and forceful arrangements of his band mates.
You have to hand it to these guys-not many acts would take the chance to open their debut with an instrumental, but "Devoid of All Praise" is just that and shows just how talented these guys are. With blistering guitar work and the pummeling drum work of Rice, this tune gets the mood set perfectly. With plenty of shredding guitar leads, complex riffs, extreme drumming, and Rinaldi's histrionic vocals, the band dives into many winners here. Songs like "Relude to Fall", "A Way Out of Madness", and "Swear to the Peerless" are pedal-to-the-metal thrash, yet melodic and technical, reminding a little of bands like Nevermore or even Iced Earth. Bonaddio throws in plenty of virtuoso solos, always tasty and melodic, and the tight riffs from Gehlke are catchy and well thought out. Fans of the band In Flames will find many of the arrangements here are in a similar style-in fact, if you dropped in death metal vocals on Reverence Dies Today you could swear that this album could be the product of a Swedish band, but the solid clean vocal delivery of Rinaldi keeps things firmly rooted in good old American metal.
Crown the Lost have put together a very impressive debut here, and there's no reason why they shouldn't build upon this and quickly develop a fan base. Very good stuff!
Track Listing
1. Devoid Of All Praise
2. Prelude To Fall
3. Your Faith Is Not Mine
4. Without End
5. No Reprieve
6. A Way Out Of Madness
7. Swear To The Peerless
8. Reverence Dies Within
9. This Dead Hour
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