The Union of Crowns is the second studio album by British metalcore band Bury Tomorrow. The album was released on 13 July 2012 through Nuclear Blast. It was produced by Antony Smith and Pedro Teixeira. It is also the last album to feature the band's founding lead guitarist Mehdi Vismara before he left the band in 2013. It was recorded within the first few months of 2012. The album's release was delayed several times by the band in attempts to find a record label who could provide international distribution simultaneously. Upon release, the album received mixed to positive reception from critics. With critics primarily praising the album song writing and sonic improvement from the band's predecessor, Portraits, negative criticism stemmed from its lack of innovation and the album is sometimes considered excessive in length. Background and recording The band left their independent labels Basick Records and Artery Recordings and spent a lot of time trying to find a label who wouldn't wish to compromise with the band on the sound of The Union of Crowns. The band were encouraged by Artery Recordings, their American label to move and base themselves in the United States but they refused as they had little experience in the country. After sending some instrumental demos of new songs to Nuclear Blast records, the band felt Nuclear Blast had a lot of faith in them. The whole goal of the album for the band was to rival the standards of American metalcore bands. Bass guitarist Davyd Winter-Bates commented on the album target for the album saying "Portraits was about us proving we could do metalcore as well as the Americans, and The Union of Crowns marks the first step towards us showing the world that we can do it as well as anyone." Composition Influences, style and themes The band's style is seen as metalcore, or more specifically "melodic metalcore". Their music features a contrast between melodic and aggressive vocal styles, intricate guitar riffs, clean-sung choruses and breakdowns. The album is seen as a showing a sonic evolution from the band's debut album, Portraits. Dani Winter-Bates when asked about the development from Portraits he said that "It's the same basic formula but we've all gotten better at our instruments." The band's sound will vary based on which vocalist takes the lead. Jason Cameron's "soulful" voice is matched by a melodic background, and is quickly contrasted by