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Fool’s Crown: “Up the Antics”

By Chip Midnight

There is an unrelenting energy coming from this relative newcomer to the Columbus metal scene. Though the band formed in 2003 around the husband and wife nucleus of guitarist Laura and drummer Matt Miller, it took a few years to find the right singer for the band. After casting aside their original vocalist, Fool’s Crown found the missing ingredient in Keith Lucas. To put it bluntly, Lucas is a badass front man who graduated with honors from the School of Anselmo. Throughout the eight tracks on this debut, Lucas goes back and forth between throat-shredding screaming and hardcore barking while Laura Miller tears up the guitar with finger work reminiscent of Dimebag Darrell (Pantera), Kerry King (Slayer), and Mark Morton (Lamb of God). There’s an undeniable groove in her grinding riffs that comes from years of refining her chops playing in metal and punk bands on the High Street strip.

Eight menacing songs with titles to match make up the lean and mean 22-minute CD; there isn’t a wasted second of filler to be found. “The Punishment that is Overdue” is a 3-minute pummeling attack and contains one of the few true guitar solos a little more than two minutes into the track. Second guitarist Dan Larson steals the spotlight on the Sabbath-meets-Skynyrd stoner rock groove of “Wings of Redemption” while the rhythm section of Matt Miller and bassist Jim Swanson is rock solid throughout the entire release. If there is one moment in which Matt Miller and Swanson’s playing truly slays, it’s deep into the third track, “Destroying One’s Own Ambition”, where the duo lay down a rapid-fire assault that sounds like machine gun blasts in a war zone.

While 2006 saw some of metal’s strongest releases in years (Slayer, Lamb of God, In Flames), 2007 is off to a great start with an album that seemingly picks up where Pantera’s crowning glory, 1994’s “Far Beyond Driven” left off.

Up the Antics will be available for a mere $5 this Saturday night at The Billiard Club where Fool’s Crown is throwing a CD release party. The Coast, Scumlot, and KingPin will also perform.

Originally Published: January 17, 2007

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