{"id":668995,"date":"2026-05-14T13:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/668995\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:37:08","slug":"crown-lands-apocalypse-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/668995\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Lands – Apocalypse Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Rush is my all-time favorite band, so their 2015 hiatus, brought on by Neil Peart\u2019s declining health hit me hard. Peart\u2019s passing in 2020 made it permanent, slamming the door on the Rush I grew up loving. That\u2019s why stumbling across Crown Lands\u2019 2023 sophomore album Fearless\u2014courtesy of this very blog\u2014felt like a hemispherian void had been filled. The dynamic duo from Oshawa, Ontario, tapped into the essence of prime \u201970s Rush better than anyone I\u2019ve heard, much like Greta Van Fleet\u2019s revival of the mighty Led Zeppelin. Naturally, when I learned their third LP, Apocalypse, was on the way, I rushed to the promo sump to claim dibs faster than you can say 2112.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse expands the Fearless Chronology that began with \u201cThe Oracle\u201d from 2022\u2019s White Buffalo with the same sonic and aesthetic bombast longtime fans expect, while stretching Crown Lands\u2019 sound into territory occupied by other classic rock titans. Taking place a century before the events of Fearless and once again rooted in the spirit of Rush\u2019s \u201cCygnus X-1\u201d series, Apocalypse often feels like a natural progression of its predecessor even if it doesn\u2019t quite reach the same heights. Through straightforward, radio-friendly anthems, as well as the mammoth self-titled closer, the album\u2019s narrative charts a manipulative, oppressive force that weaponizes fear (\u201cFoot Soldiers of the Syndicate\u201d), then spirals outward into dragons, warriors and interstellar tyrants plunging the world into chaos (\u201cBlackstar\u201d). Amid the destruction, more intimate threads of loss and longing surface in crestfallen ballads (\u201cThe Revenant,\u201d \u201cThrough the Looking Glass\u201d). Where Fearless opened with its longest track, Apocalypse flips the script, saving its epic for the finale. The 19-minute cut matches the ambition and scope of \u201cThe Oracle\u201d and \u201cStarlifter: Fearless Pt. II,\u201d though the record\u2019s bottom-heavy makeup leaves less to uncover in the tracks leading up to it.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse (24-bit HD audio) by Crown Lands<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unusual to devote an entire paragraph to a single track, but \u201cApocalypse\u201d earns the word count as its reach accounts for nearly half of the record\u2019s runtime. The piece opens in classic Rush fashion as celestial synths, cascading tom rolls, and shifting syncopation give way to shimmering arpeggios and warm, fluid vocal lines. At first, the track feels poised to deliver on its promise, and as it unfolds, Crown Lands weaves in a myriad of compelling touches, including Pink Floyd\u2019s patented stoner-rock solos and a gorgeous arpeggiated, space-drifting movement with a flute-laden motif that nods to the duo\u2019s Indigenous roots. But the track\u2019s momentum falters at several points, and the songwriting begins to feel choppy as the track progresses. The choral bridge at the six-minute mark is a great idea, yet it\u2019s followed by an overly hectic section where Crown Lands\u2019 instrumental prowess shines but the vocals grate, undercutting what could have become a more transcendent phase. Similarly, the astral section at eleven minutes, with its galactic, vocal harmonies and tribal tom flourishes, is another moment that is abrasive. Although it ends on a high note, \u201cApocalypse\u201d feels like it needed more time to bake to fully come together.<\/p>\n

\"\"The unevenness of the self-titled epic would be forgivable if Apocalypse\u2019s remaining tracks consistently picked up the slack. But they don\u2019t. Stronger songs like \u201cThrough the Looking Glass\u201d and \u201cThe Revenant\u201d rely on Led Zeppelin-esque refrains to cohere into some of their best material to date, while Bowles\u2019 vocal approach primarily hampers \u201cFoot Soldiers of the Syndicate\u201d, \u201cBlackstar,\u201d and \u201cThe Fall.\u201d Bowles\u2019 high-register singing\u2014which will no doubt remain as divisive as Geddy Lee\u2019s\u2014can feel forced or strained at times, pulling me out of the otherwise strong songwriting rather than deepening the immersion. Across several key moments, Bowles doesn\u2019t feel fully locked in, leaning instead on playful, almost taunting huffs and puffs (\u201cThe Fall\u201d) or siren-like shrills (\u201cApocalypse\u201d) that never quite find their place. Still, while Crown Lands\u2019 execution isn\u2019t as consistently sharp as Fearless, Apocalypse still offers plenty of quality material for fans to latch onto.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve enjoyed my time with Apocalypse, yet I can\u2019t help but feel somewhat disappointed. Maybe it speaks to the consistency and appeal of Fearless, but this record simply doesn\u2019t resonate in the same way its predecessor did. To their credit, Crown Lands takes risks and pushes into some new territory here, and some of those choices pay off. Nevertheless, Apocalypse lacks the cohesion to keep me coming back, outside of a couple tracks that have burrowed their way into my psyche. It\u2019s a letdown, but one I\u2019m inclined to chalk up to growing pains for now.<\/p>\n

Rating: Good
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb\/s mp3
Label: InsideOut Music<\/a>
Websites: crownlands.bandcamp.com<\/a> | crownlandsmusic.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/crownlandsmusic<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: May 15th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rush is my all-time favorite band, so their 2015 hiatus, brought on by Neil Peart\u2019s declining health hit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[43409,976,29764,49,48,62448,246688,75,112935,88180,1351,237303,341,20527,131784,208,209,1352,56410],"class_list":["post-668995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-43409","tag-3-0","tag-apocalypse","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-metal","tag-crown-lands","tag-entertainment","tag-greta-van-fleet","tag-insideout-music","tag-led-zeppelin","tag-may26","tag-music","tag-pink-floyd","tag-progressive-rock","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-rock","tag-rush"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}