Album Review: Crown Lands ‘Fearless’
Album Cover via Crown Land’s Spotify
Fresh off a recent tour supporting Greta Van Fleet on the southern North American leg of the Dreams in Gold tour, Canadian-based progressive rock duo, Crown Lands, delivers their sophomore album ‘Fearless’ to an ever-growing slew of contemporary rock fans. This bold and world-building album only further solidifies their place in today’s rock scene. With vocals and drums by Cody Bowles and guitar, bass, and keys by Kevin Comeau, this band makes a lot of noise for only two people.
Bowles’ ties to his Mi’kmaq Two Spirit indigenous roots showcase heavily throughout the album, and the first track, ‘Starlifter: Fearless Pt.II’, is no exception. This eighteen-minute-long song is an ambitious lead-in to the album and as their primary single. While its lengthy runtime may seem daunting to the average listener, the song is broken up into ten sections, or chapters rather.
Within each of these chapters, the listener may pick up hints about the song’s anti-colonialist themes. It’s laid out quite bluntly in the opening chapter, “Of a greed that grips the hearts of mortal men / To the stars / They colonized our worlds”. Throughout the song, a world is built for the listener and an epic story ensues. Imagery of distant worlds, tyrants, and battles provide a unique and powerful experience all wrapped into audio.
Lovers of Rush may also have noticed this epic, storytelling song to be a tribute to Geddy Lee’s composition style of the ‘Cygnus X-1 song series. Bowles and Comeau attribute a lot of their music style to progressive rock bands of the past like Asia, Styx, and (quite obviously) Rush. Just hearing the dulcet synth tones to the keyboard in ‘Starlifter’, a wave of nostalgia will wash over the listener and transport them decades into the past. This feeling is, in part, aided by the fact that long-time Rush producer, David Bottrill, also produced ‘Fearless’ with Bowles and Comeau.
Track 2, ‘Dreamer of the Dawn’, is a worthy and lighthearted follow-up to the masterful epic before it. It’s wistful, freeing, and captures an essence of hopeful bliss. The next few songs, ‘The Shadow’ and ‘Right Way Back’ both provide exceptional guitar solos, both of which echoed in my brain long after the songs had finished. The latter also seemed to follow a more modern grain of rock music, an almost garage-like feel with a Jack White-esque rawness to the vocals. Perhaps White and Bowles traded tricks when Crown Lands opened for Jack White on the Canadian leg of his 2018 tour.
Smack dab in the middle of the album lies ‘Context: Fearless Pt. I’ and serves the listener with another Rush tribute, though this one lasts under half as long as the first one we see on the album. Track 5 issues us beautiful and well-constructed parallels back to the first track, as well as providing us additional imagery centered around the wheel of life.
The intense vocabulary of this duo proves to be a strength, but not a necessity in their creative process with the next two tracks. ‘Reflections’ and ‘Penny’, while both instrumental, are able to paint just as vivid of an image in the mind of the listener. ‘Penny’ was a standout to me, as it contrasted the intensity that the rest of the album oozed. Its soft folk melody evokes such feeling without any need for verse or prose. It showcases the strength that Bowles and Comeau have in creativity and communication through their art form.
The last two songs of the album are the perfect finale for this beast of a story Crowd Lands has created. Both have smooth, melodic, yet dark guitar parts that make the listener feel powerful. They close out this epic album with a compelling and dominant portrayal of musical excellence. ‘Lady of the Lake’ is a rugged and dark body that looms in your mind before getting hit with ‘Citadel’ for a persuasive close-out to a powerhouse album.
All in all, it’s an impressive feat for a sophomore album. Keep an eye out for this duo, I think rock purists and beginner listeners alike have tons to appreciate when it comes to Crown Lands. ‘Fearless’ is available for purchase and streaming now. My one piece of advice? Prepare for a journey.
Photo via Crown Land’s Spotify
