ALBUM
CROWN LANDS
APOCALYPSE
Sony Music Japan International
Crown Lands have been around for just over a decade. A Prog Rock duo, they released their self-titled debut album in 2020 which was nominated in the ‘Best Rock Album ‘category at Canada’s 2021 Juno Awards, a ceremony where they also won the ‘Best New Group’ category. They followed that with two releases in 2023, Odyssey Vol. 1 and Fearless and then signed to Inside Out Music. This is their debut release in Japan and the rather splendid, deluxe edition, brings together everything released so far on that label.
Prog! Canada! Rush! Such is the way people’s brains work these days and whilst admittedly, yes, there are elements comparable to their homeland kings, you would be unwise to make such a hasty judgement. Is it a concept album? Yes. Does it have an epic piece that would take up one side of a vinyl album? Yes. That’s all of your questions answered so onwards to talk about the music itself.
As the first listening to Apocalypse reveals, Cody Bowles (v, d, flute) and Kevin Comeau (g, b, k) have created a multi layered, multi-faceted album, the complexities and intricacies of which we have rarely seen since Prog’s heyday in the 70s. Much like Yes used to use a lot of dynamics between soft and loud in their albums, so to have Crown Lands. ‘Proclamation I’ is an atmospheric intro before ‘Foot Soldier of the Syndicate’ blasts you with everything they have in their arsenal. No sooner have your ears adjusted to the barrage your head is trying to get around than the gentle opening of ‘Through the Looking Glass’ pops up. This song builds and has one of the finest vocal performances on the album, Cody’s range seemingly almost limitless. That’s followed by ‘Blackstar’, a more straight-forward rocker and then…well, no need to do a breakdown of every song, you get the idea. Incidentally, the narrative is of their own creation. I’ll let you work it out for yourself but the lyrics are well thought out and do add a whole lot more to the listening pleasure.
This being their debut release in Japan, Sony have added the previous release, Ritual, to this set. Consisting of two ambient pieces, ‘Ritual I’ and ‘Ritual II’, they are a far cry from Apocalypse, closer to the quieter segments of Mike Oldfield’s Ommadawn for the entire album. Soothing, relaxing and primitive, one wonders how the duo could come up with two albums so polarized. It should be noted as well that this is the worldwide debut release of that album on CD, it being previously released only on vinyl. The discs are mastered using Sony’s BSCD2 for a higher audio output and rounding out the package is the standard 20-panel colour booklet and a 20-panel Japanese B/W booklet with liner notes and translated lyrics.
Track List
Disc 1:
Proclamation I
Foot Soldier of the Syndicate
Through the Looking Glass
Blackstar
The Fall
The Revenants I
Apocalypse
Disc 2:
Ritual I
Dawn
The Storm
Vigil
Dusk
The Serpent
Ritual II
Tempest
Respite
Shadows under Moonlight
Mirage
In the Reeds
Celestial Marsh
GIG
VINDICTA
OOTSUKA HEARTS+, TOKYO
30th June 2026
Having seen Dogma perform at last year’s Bloodstock festival and followed the ensuing revelations of the treatment of the band that lead to the exodus of its three main members, I was keen to see how comparable Vindicta would be. Time was against them. Lilith, Lamia and Rusalka only recruited Kali and Medea weeks before they were due to go out on the road and they needed new material to prove to the doubters they were the real thing. It wasn’t going to be easy. The members live on different continents and they had to pull everything together whilst the lies and threats from previous management swirled around them; no pressure then.
The curtain rises to a Gregorian chant intro. It teases the audience a lot longer than usual, letting them know who is in control. One by one, the band take the stage and then the chants give way to the arpeggio string intro from ‘Forbidden Zone’. From then on, all hell breaks loose and all doubts, about who Dogma were and Vindicta now are, are cast out like devils. The effect of the simple stage set and lighting combined with the power of their playing and performance is both hypnotic and enticing. They have chosen well for their new recruits. Medea wields her six-string feathered bass, just about keeping it on a leash as Kali belts the living daylights out her kit – she is one, very hard-hitter – and they are as tight a rhythm section as any band can be. Ruslaka and Lamia’s twin guitar parts are fluid and in front of everything, Lilith mesmerises the audience, daring you, tempting you to sin as the melodies flow out of her. It’s rare in Rock these days to see a frontperson who can sing and perform with such nobility.
Most notably, although the individual members have their own characteristics, they move as one. They seem to glide around the stage, interacting and weaving between each other like the snakes on Medusa’s head. Lilith steps onto a small platform at the front of the stage facing away from the audience. Arms outstretched, the back lighting silhouettes her, the resulting image being one of sacrifice. There are solo spots which are impressive and not self-indulgent, the message from the band being that they are one, not a collection of session players.
The show ran a little over an hour. The entire Dogma album was performed (no doubt due to the aforementioned time constraints) along with Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’ and they closed the show with the new single, ‘The Face of the Clown’, their first release as Vindicta. I left the venue with my question answered with authority: The old testament is dead, the new testament lives.
Set list
Forbidden Zone
Made Her Mine
My First Peak
Carnal Liberation
Feel the Zeal
Make Us Proud
Free Yourself
Like a Prayer
Bare to the Bones
Father, I Have Sinned
The Dark Messiah
Encore
Pleasure from Pain
The Face of the Clown