This is the latest EP from US deathcore band Crown Magnetar.
Containing 13 minutes of material, Crown Magnetar play deathcore on the more brutal end of the spectrum. Punishment is aptly named, dishing out four succinct beatings that don’t hold back.
Starting with Barbed Wire Noose, Crown Magnetar waste no time bringing the heaviness. It’s a deathcore rager that mixes death metal intensity and hardcore dynamics to devastating effect. Designed to ignite mosh pits everywhere, (as all of these songs are), Barbed Wire Noose ably showcases the band’s murderous brand of heaviness, and allows their singer to growl like a monster that’s barely restrained.
Nailed the Fuck Down follows, and it’s just as lethal as its predecessor. The guitars lacerate as freely as they bludgeon, and the drums bring the pain in no uncertain terms. There is crazed screaming on this track, deeper breakdowns, and even a lashing of malevolent atmosphere.
Next up is Bringer of Dead Light, which offers a relentless dose of harsh brutality and threatening menace. The double bass works overtime, and the band channel their most surgical aggressive side. We even get a splash of colour from an arterial guitar solo. It ends as it started, smashing in your skull.
The EP ends with the savage Decapitation Ritual. This song is simultaneously the most accessible and the heaviest. The breakdowns take not a single prisoner, and the withering blast beats pulverise with impunity.
For those that enjoy some real brutality in their deathcore, Punishment is just the ticket. Crown Magnetar’s latest EP is an easily enjoyable slab of pit-friendly heaviness.
Wonderbox Metal 