Band:	Dishonour The Crown
Album:	The English Way
Style:	Hardcore Punk, Crossover thrash metal
Release date:	September 10, 2018
Guest review by:	omne metallum

01. The English Way
02. Weakened To The Bone
03. DTC
04. New Ways To Heal
05. Contradictions
06. Same Shit Different Decade
07. Bitter Taste
08. Become Deceased
09. Reckless Mind
10. Officer Down [Stampin' Ground cover]
11. Strength Beyond Strength [Pantera cover]

Put Hatebreed, Slayer, Demolition Hammer and Sepultura into a blender and you get Dishonour The Crown. This album is a solid mix of thrash with hardcore leanings that add to the intensity. Taking aim at topics such as austerity in tracks like "Weakened To The Bone" and political disillusionment in "Same Shit Different Decade", the band have an axe to grind. This is an album to put on if you want to rage.

The music pairs well with the intensity of the lyrics; heavy and urgent, it delivers a one-two blow that will keep you hooked. Their foot is firmly pinned to the floor on this album, constantly throwing punches as you sit back and listen, only slowing up on "Bitter Taste" and "Become Deceased", which eschew tempo in favour of groove without sacrificing heaviness. From "The English Way" through to "Same Shit Different Decade", the band pull no punches and you'll find yourself either banging your head or with your fist in the air.

The production does exactly what it needs to do; make everything audible and crank it up to 11 to deafen anyone who strays too close to the speakers. It fits perfectly with what the band appeared to be going for and makes for enjoyable listening.

"Reckless Mind" will?well, get stuck in your mind with its unrelenting attack, leaving you in its wake but without you forgetting what flew past you. "Contradictions" is a good song that knows when to switch up the intensity between the vocals and the instrumentation before merging into one hell of a crescendo at the song's end.

The instrumentation does hinder this album somewhat; while the songs are heavy as hell, the guitars are mostly a whirlwind of heaviness, causing them to blur and any riff being lost in the chaos. It's competent playing, but even after repeated listening, I couldn't pull out any passages that made me stand back in awe. This also carries over into the vocals; the intense shouting adds to the music, but it becomes monotonous by the end of the album. Given the [bandHatebreed[/band] influence shines through strong on this, you would've hoped that they'd taken a page from their book and varied the vocal patterns a bit more. That said, when you put it all together in one package it is greater than the sum of its parts.

The only song on here that I found myself not headbanging to automatically is the Pantera cover, coming off as sounding less than the original; it ditches all the groove that made Pantera's version so good. That said, "Officer Down" is a competent cover; it won't replace the original anytime soon, but is a good addition to the album.

If you want a soundtrack to post-2008 Britain you have it here, middle finger in the air throughout. Dishonour The Crown may not win any prizes for eloquence, but sometimes blunt force trauma can be just as endearing.