Best known for their divisive debut, 2018's "THE BLACK METAL SCENE NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED", the band have decided to continue their assault on black metal as a scene and genre this time by merging black metal with many genres of "non-kvlt" music. Frontman RICHARD WEEKS explains: "With THE BLACK METAL SCENE NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED we used genre trappings to assault black metal with its own aural aesthetics. Raw guitars, sloppy riffs, gurgled vocals, and the bass turned way down. This time around we wanted to 'pervert' this 'sacred' music by pairing it alongside genres that most 'true' fans hate." CROWN OF JOY (A SUBLIME SUN THRIVING AMONGST DYING STARS) has all the anger and ferocity of previous albums THE BLACK METAL SCENE NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED and WINGS OF THE JOYFUL but merges that fury with genres like trap, RnB, jazz, j-pop, hip-hop, and hyper pop to create a unique experience that old school black metal fans will absolutely abhor. "I basically took two months off writing metal to write an FM synth-led old school video game soundtrack and ended up listening to a lot of genres I had only /kinda/ listened to before." WEEKS further explains. "I found myself listening to experimental rapper MARIO JUDAH, Ukrainian Eurovision electro-folk act Go_A, Vtuber rapper MORI CALLIOPE, and lots more crazy non-metal stuff. I felt inspired to try my hand at some of these genres... and thusly, CROWN OF JOY was born." "Also for this album I wanted to channel my inner ARJEN LUCASSEN." WEEKS continues: "I've always been a fan of AYREON and STAR ONE and all of LUCASSEN's other projects for years. And I always try to use as many voices as I can muster when recording, but I can't do /everything/, so I recruited no less than 17 guests to appear on CROWN OF JOY. Mostly vocalists, but some lead guitarists, and narrators as well." Guests:
Sally - Freelance R&B Vocalist
Alena Yashkina - Vocalist for Wicked Cat, Splitmind
Junayed Hossain Rayhan - Lead guitarist for Metal Fakir
thetrashyourmomthrewout - Freelance Voice Actress
Sevlier - Freelance Jazz Vocalist
Olga Nuit - Vocalist for Ara'Kus
Kieran Scott - Vocalist for Ashen Crown
Ember O'Woody - Freelance Metal Vocalist
Karl Willetts - Memoriam, Ex-Bolt Thrower
Aaron Marko - Frontman for The Swine
Rodrigo C Giacon - Lead guitarist for Sorrow In Vain
Nate Lewis - Bassist for Ante-Inferno, Bassist and Vocalist for Petrichor
Amara Wears - Vocalist for Aubzagl, Guitarist for Petrichor
Marc Hood - Vocalist for Cadaver Soiree
Baradiel - Freelance Metal Musician Tracklist: 01) Lay Down
02) Ghost Me
03) Dread
04) Shit Scene, Shit Bands
05) White Night Gaslight
06) High and Mighty
07) Grey Rainbow
08) Coiled in Dust
09) Obfuscation of Intent
10) Ten Wing Angel
11) Nailed Deity
12) Again and Again
13) None / Nothing
14) Judgement and Justice
15) Slitting Their Throats
16) Kvlt After School Xbox Kommando
17) Sublime Sunshine CROWN OF JOY (A SUBLIME SUN THRIVING AMONGST SUICIDAL STARS) is available on 30/09/2021 from GAYLORD's and BLACKENED DEATH's Bandcamp and streaming on Spotify, Apple, Tidal, Google, and just about everywhere else. | 
