Since Out of the Garden artfully garnished the RMR zine’s early days, Crypt Sermon has been a fixture at the RMR office tower. And for cause. The undeniable doom-laden quality of The Ruins of Fading Light yet again delivered one cool sophomore album in 2019. But since then, nada.
So, finally, the Philadelphians are back with a vengeance after some 5 years of wait. And the band survived this pretty much unscathed with only two new guys induced into their halls of fame over time.
If anything, The Stygian Rose is a slick one. The style still is undeniably Crypt Sermon, but the band dished out a boatload of additional grit, grime, and pretty vicious variation on top of their clear-voiced Doom Metal piece this time. Their style now sports these distinct Sorcerer vibes with some heavy Judas Priest thrown in there for good measure. A mix of Doom and Heavy Metal that we – again – found hard to resist.
But it’s not only that. Apart from forays into territories of good ol’ Zep and other oldish vibes of the late ’70s, Brooks Wilson‘s elastic voice did one helluva doomy Hetfield1 imitation in a blatant excursion into Thrash Metal. Down in the Hollow or – again to a lesser extent – the excellent Heavy is the Crown of Bone could seriously increase quality levels on Metallica’s latest yellowed piece. A record that garnered some reluctant praise over here. But l digress, of course.
Steve Jansson‘s and Frank Chin‘s often excellent guitar prowess really soars to the forefront throughout the record. The axes indeed become one of the main pillars of success for this record. Case in point, The Stygian Rose rips hard straight from the beginning with a ton of speedy heavy chugs on Glimmer in the Underworld. Steamy belting, relentlessly supported by burly riffs and scratchy yet excellent solos, won’t allow one second of respite. A track that – at first – only reluctantly shows some Color ov Doom. It’s as if the band went a-surfin’ in the funeralistic realms of Stygian Crown2 for guidance. But we’ll never know for sure, of course.
The first track made us scratch our heads a little, I admit. And we had to wait until the second offering to encounter the proper Crypt Sermon-esque doom sound ‘n’ feel yet again. Thunder (Perfect Mind) conveys that perfect blend of heavy music and delicate traditional doom ‘n’ groove that the RMR crew grew to love over time. But The Stygian Rose – the title track – hits all those vibes right on point. It’s doom and metal as fuck, it’s majestic, it’s powerful, it’s relentless. This – finally – is trve and hauntingly beautiful doom that should have been more prevalent on this record.
And that gets me to the one real negative on this album. Some experimentation is good for sure. But The Stygian Rose turned into an untidy jumble of tracks with a gazillion intermingled ideas thrown in seemingly without a plan. And that led to a moody record of hot and cold with a relatively weak midsection.
Ultimately, however, Crypt Sermon nailed it again. The aforementioned discomfiture notwithstanding, The Stygian Rose contains all the ingredients adepts of doom require for 45 minutes of miserable happiness. This 3rd offering sports a band in full form, sure in their ways, and ready to take their outfit further than before. But the untidy moodiness on display might well have some fans turn towards former records. As to the RMR crew, though, the album garnered our unwavering endorsement.
Keep ’em coming, guys.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Dark Descent Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 14 June 2024
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