By now it is clear that we have a genuine obsession with The Lazz, having previously featured The Resonance, and Riddle In the Mist, as well as Observer, so when we found out that the artist was back with The Crown, we couldn’t wait to listen and share our experience.
The Crown opens with a super high-octane and fierce guitar soundscape tapping into notions of melodic metal with layered female ad-libs. The track expands as a duet with male and female vocals as we experience a cinematic and bold journey that feels introspective, existential and ferocious.
We could absolutely imagine this landing a sync placement in a film like Blade Runner 2049 or Dune, notably during one of those scenes where everything looks enormous but the real battle is happening inside someone’s head. The guitars are huge, with syncopated riffs bringing in elements of groove metal, metalcore, djent, thrash and power metal.
As for the message, The Crown explores what happens after transformation. It is about when self-knowledge can start turning into ego. It’s very cleverly written and the concept of the crown represents inner strength and sovereignty, but also the temptation to believe that we have somehow finished the work of self-realization. It is a very Jungian idea and fits perfectly into the wider universe The Lazz has been building.
For context and as a reminder, The Lazz is the high-concept metal project of Ben “The Lazz” Lazzaro, a composer, guitarist and visual artist with more than 40 years of musical experience. His background in 3D digital art and video game production also feeds directly into the project’s multimedia approach.
Lazzaro writes, composes, arranges and masters the music, performing the original guitar and bass parts himself, whilst incorporating a modified generative engine across vocals, drums, effects and sonic production. We find this “Hybrid-Human” approach particularly fascinating because the technology never feels like the point. It is simply another tool within a much bigger creative vision.
The Crown opens Act IV: The Return, continuing The Lazz‘s ongoing exploration of Shadow, Persona, transformation and ego. Needless to say, we are once again completely hooked. The Crown is heavy, cinematic and wonderfully weird, and we cannot wait to see where The Lazz takes this universe next.