Crown Lands is a young Canadian duo that was formed in 2015. “Fearless” is their sophomore album, released three years after their debut. Much have been said about this duo as a result of their music and voice style. To be honest, they are indeed good musicians that know how to play and compose music. Aside from that, they have all time ahead of them to progress, mature and blend all of their influences, to produce a more personal sound in general.
Calling them a Rush tribute band or a copycat isn’t kind, even if they may use the same chord progressions or song structures at times in an attempt to imitate the prog titans Rush. Cody, the singer, who also plays the drums, sounds like a mix between a young Ozzy and Geddy Lee. He certainly has a distinct tone, but I can’t say he has a great voice or anything. He has a decent voice though.
The production is dynamic, and not polished at all. The album has an organic sound as a whole. Aside from Rush, they appear to be influenced by bands like as Greta Van Fleet, Rivals Sons, The Black Crowes, and others. The significant mistake they made with this album was to open it with an 18+ minute track that is heavily influenced (with rip-off parts) by Rush. This is clearly not their strong point! Their shorter tracks are more interesting and better overall, in my opinion. I’m curious why they don’t focus on shorter, more melodic songs that work better rather than long prog songs that do not work that well.
“Fearless” is not a bad record by any means, but neither a “masterpiece” as some claim. Perhaps they’ve never heard of the aforementioned bands before. Anyhow, Crown Lands is indeed a talented band that needs time and work to blend all of its influences and create something really good. Until then…
