Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Swedish death metal veterans The Crown will bring their 35-year career to an end later this year. The band’s final Finnish performance will take place on July 25th at Kaaos Festival in Vaasa. Chaoszine recently sat down with guitarist Marko Tervonen to discuss the band’s decision to call it quits, their legacy and what fans can expect from their final show in Finland.
Hello Marko. How has May 2026 been treating you so far?
Marko Tervonen: I’m doing very well, thanks for asking. I’ve been working on the terrace and backyard, painting, cleaning and fixing things up, so now we’re ready for summer. Everything is really good.
You dropped quite a bomb at the end of last year when you announced that 2026 would be the band’s final year. How long had that idea been on your mind? Are you still fully convinced this will truly be the end?
Tervonen: Yeah, I guess it’s always been somewhere in the back of our minds that the end would come sooner or later, whether you want it to or not. During the last year or years, the thought really became more concrete that — believe it or not — the band would eventually end.
In the end, it became more of a matter of conscience: how do you want everything to end, because the end will come eventually anyway. Do you want to slowly fade away, disappear and become irrelevant? Or do we have enough strength and balls to quit while we’re still kind of on top?
Our latest albums are really strong, and we’re extremely proud of them. People say you’re only as good as your last album, and our newest record “Crown of Thorns” is fucking strong. So yes, now feels like the right time to end things while we’re still at our peak. I think that’s exactly why we’ll be able to sleep well at night. We never became irrelevant or turned into one of those bands where people ask, “Are they still around?” We’re ending this on our own terms, and that’s been the most important thing.
Where did the idea of ending the band originally come from? Was it a mutual decision?
Tervonen: I think it maybe started partly with me, and pretty quickly the others — let’s say the senior members of the band — agreed. Of course, we also have younger members in the band, but at some point we realized there’s something positive about ending things at the top and actually daring to do it. It was an important decision, but also a difficult one.
The Crown have now reached the very respectable age of 35 years. When you think back on the band’s long career, what stands out the most?
Tervonen: The first thing that comes to mind is probably the creative process behind every album. How everything basically starts from absolutely nothing and slowly becomes a full record that works. The right songs, the right atmosphere, the right attitude, the right artwork and so on. I really value that creative process.
Of course, we’ve also played amazing shows around the world, traveled to Asia, the United States and basically everywhere. There are many individual concerts that were absolutely fantastic.
But for me, the most important thing is still the process of making an album. Everything from songwriting and creating to recording, and then finally seeing the finished product, holding it in your hands and even smelling the vinyl. That means a lot to me — probably more than anything else.
Back in 1990, when the band was formed, did you ever imagine it would last this long?
Tervonen: No, absolutely not. Neither me nor Johan ever thought we’d still be doing this after all these years. Both of us turned 50 recently, and next year Marcus turns 50, so it’s crazy when you think that we were just 14 years old — maybe someone had already turned 15 — when we started playing together.
I remember dreaming about our first demo tape because I wanted us to become part of the whole underground movement with tape trading, fanzines and all of that. We were actually a bit late because our first demo only came out in 1993, and the big death metal explosion had already happened around 1990.
But eventually we got a record deal and released our debut album in 1995. If everything had ended there, I probably would have already been happy. But we kept getting new ideas. We constantly found new ways to evolve our music within our own little bubble in a way that felt meaningful to us, and then things just continued — one album after another.
So no, this definitely wasn’t the original plan.
Your final Finnish show will take place at Kaaos Festival in Vaasa on July 25th. What can fans expect, and why should people travel there to see you?
Tervonen: One reason is that it’s truly now or never. If anyone has ever had the thought somewhere in the back of their mind that they’d like to see us one more time in Finland before everything ends, then this is the last chance.
We’re going to play a lot of old stuff, new stuff — a little bit of everything. We’ll try to make the set as broad as possible considering the time slot we have. So it’s going to be a fucking energetic show. That’s really the whole goal of the setlist — that the energy feels like it’s 1995 all over again. Hah hah hah! But yes, this is definitely the last chance. Now or never.
Will the setlist be a full overview of your career?
Tervonen: The setlist will contain a bit of everything depending on the mood of the day. We have a big pile of songs rehearsed and ready, and then we’ll adapt the set according to the schedule and how much stage time we get.
But the main focus is definitely energy. It doesn’t matter if the songs are old, new or somewhere in between. The important thing is that the energy stays at one hundred percent from beginning to end.
The band’s final show will take place in Gothenburg. Was it a conscious decision to end things there?
Tervonen: We’re actually originally from Trollhättan, so the original plan was to end everything there and kind of close the circle. But logistically it didn’t really work out.
Gothenburg is still very close to home, only about a 50-minute drive away. There are better venues there where we can do a farewell show worthy of the band.
It absolutely felt right to end everything in Sweden close to our hometown. And the coolest thing is that the original venue sold out, so we had to upgrade to a larger one. I just got a list from the promoter a couple of days ago, and people are coming from all over the world. South America, the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Denmark — everywhere. It’s going to be a really beautiful ending to all of this.
What does your future in music look like after The Crown?
Tervonen: Music is deeply rooted in my personality. I write music all the time. I don’t even need to hold a guitar to write music — I think about it constantly.
So for me, continuing to create music feels completely natural, and I’ve already been doing that. I’ve written a huge amount of new material, so it’s really just a matter of deciding what I want to do with it. I will definitely release more music, but what that means in terms of bands and touring the world again — honestly, I don’t know yet.
But writing music is inevitable for me. I already have around twenty new songs in progress. At the same time, I also run a studio where I mix and master music for bands and artists from all over the world.
I’ve built a really good system where bands can record their material wherever they are, then send the files to me and I’ll mix and master everything from home.
That’s a huge passion in my life, and I hope I can continue doing it for as long as my ears and my mind still work.
Thanks a lot for the interview. Any final words for your fans?
Tervonen: Last chance. Be there — or regret it forever.
Tickets for Kaaos Festival can be bought here.
