Crown The Empire Show How Features Are Done With Heavy New Track ‘In Another Life’

With some help from Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante, Crown The Empire triumphantly return to the heavy metalcore sound of their past with “In Another Life”. However, a return to heavy music isn’t the only noteworthy aspect of their new track. What the song does best is that it knows how to utilize a guest feature. This is exactly what the metalcore scene so desperately needs right now.

FFO: Spiritbox, Wage War, Memphis May Fire

Crown The Empire is:

Andy Leo – lead vocals, keyboards, programming

Brandon Hoover – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Hayden Tree – bass, backing vocals

Brent Taddie – drums, percussion

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Crown The Empire Return To Their Roots

If you missed the old Crown The Empire of the past, you’re in luck! The band are back to making straight-to-the-point metalcore. Plenty of bands popular in the 10’s are returning to a heavy sound. These bands include the likes of Memphis May Fire, We Came As Romans, Underoath, and more. In the 20’s heavy is the way to go, and Crown The Empire are 100% onboard with this. In “In Another Life”, Bassist Hayden Tree takes on far more screaming vocals than ever before. This allows the band to take on the sound of their past, while differentiating at the same time.

Their last record “Sudden Sky” wasn’t bad by any means, but I would be lying if I said the sound of “In Another Life” wasn’t much more exciting. The energetic and heavy side of Crown The Empire actually adds to their uniqueness and defines their place in the scene. Mixing theatrical Panic! At The Disco-esque vocals with the crushing sounds of metalcore from the 10’s is where the band shines best.

Will the album be heavy as well?

Despite my praise of the track, I do not expect – nor do I need – the band to stay this heavy throughout the whole record. I think diverse records are the best records. The issue with “Sudden Sky” wasn’t that the lead singles were missing screams, it was that most songs were missing screams. When an album has 10-13 tracks there is plenty of room for heavy, soft, and experimental tracks. I actually really enjoyed the singles leading up to the last record. The catchy “20/20” and the energetic “what i am” were great tracks that worked great despite lacking screams (and previous vocalist David Escamilla). Whether the upcoming record is full of tracks like “In Another Life” or not, I still see this as a promising start.

Crown The Empire Showing How Features Are Done

Let’s discuss how well Courtney LaPlante’s feature is done in this track. In a genre saturated by incredibly short, underwhelming, and underused features, this track proves exactly how they should be done. Courtney gets to show off her singing and screaming talents in multiple different moments of the track. Spiritbox are one of the hottest bands right now, and they are definitely going to be a leading band for this generation of the metalcore genre. By recruiting Courtney, Crown The Empire are able prove that they are going to be relevant this generation as well.

Spiritbox are releasing their debut record “Eternal Blue” September 17th. To think they don’t even have an album out, yet they have completely taken over the scene. The band was even touring with Limp Bizkit! Unfortunately the tour was canceled, but don’t worry, this is only the beginning for Spiritbox.

Metal Shell Reacts To Crown The Empire | In Another Life (feat. Courtney LaPlante)

Want to see what I thought about the track during my first listen? Honestly Courtney’s part blew my mind! Check out the video below to see how I reacted to hearing a heavier version of Crown The Empire.

Another recent song that utilizes featured artists masterfully is Tallah’s “Vanilla Paste”. I highly recommend you check it out. I covered the track in the article below. Please check it out!

Tallah: ‘Vanilla Paste’ Is The Bohemian Rhapsody Of Nu-Metal

What did you think of Crown The Empire’s return to heavy music? Did you think “In Another Life” was a step in the right direction? Let me know down in the comments.