Written by Kep
Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose
> Epic doom metal
> Pennsylvania, US
> Releasing June 14
> Dark Descent Records
I wasn’t writing about music in 2019; I started here at Noob Heavy in 2021 and pre-pandemic I hadn’t even really managed to find my way into metal Twitter. You won’t find a 2019 Kep’s AOTY list no matter where you look, because no such thing existed. But looking back at it now, if I were to make a list, Crypt Sermon’s acclaimed sophomore LP The Ruins of Fading Light probably would’ve been at the top of it. I may not generally be a doom or trad metal aficionado but I know good riffs, memorable vocals, and killer songwriting when I hear them. Crypt Sermon didn’t just set the bar for non-legacy epic doom acts; they are the bar as far as I’m concerned.
Lofty praise leads to lofty expectations, though, so the Philly sextet is in the unique position of being able to release one of the best albums of the year and still have it feel a bit underwhelming in the grand scheme of their discography. Almost as if aware that they need to blow the doors off, they waster no time and go on the offensive right out of the gate with “Glimmers in the Underworld”, an undeniable ripper that’s one of the album’s finest tracks. Much of The Stygian Rose feels more intimate than Ruins—perhaps because its lyrical content feels more personal, with frequent references to the rose of the title and the search for an unnamed “her” (e.g. “She is peace / She is war / She is nothing / She is more” in “Thunder (Perfect Mind)”) even as the music waxes grandiose—but not here on the opener, where we get bombastic riffage, a blazing solo section, and some of the album’s most memorable melodies from Brooks Wilson’s powerfully gritty pipes. The way the lines of the verses wend their way around and above the chugging guitars is precisely the sort of shadowy yet rousing shit Crypt Sermon does best.
The delightfully narrative “Thunder (Perfect Mind)” slows the tempo but not the intensity, as the band weaves an ominous tale of obsession and sacrifice. “Down in the Hollow” is a multifaceted number, galloping forth on the back of a driving classic heavy metal riff, slowing for murky choruses, and eventually landing on a heavy chug that supports cryptic lyrics (“They know my name / She knows my name / And so they know my name”) and a shred-tastic solo. Here’s a good place to note that the record sounds utterly fantastic—hat tip to the growing legend that is Eternal Champion’s Arthur Rizk, who’s handled production duties on all Crypt Sermon releases, and engineer Aidan Ellis—due to its crunchy, vibrant guitar tone and brilliant mix. Enrique Sagarnaga’s kit sounds notably live and hefty, helping to showcase his spirited performance. The overall sound is a big step up from The Ruins of Fading Light, and really allows the songs to come to life.
Speaking (again) of The Ruins of Fading Light, that album struck gold with two particularly outstanding songs, both buoyed by ridiculously catchy vocal melodies and grandiose storytelling: “Key of Solomon” and “Christ is Dead”. It pains me a bit to say that I don’t think any moment on The Stygian Rose ever quite reaches the high points of those tracks, despite a good deal of excellent songwriting. For example, lead single “Heavy is the Crown of Bone”: it’s got a damn nifty riff center with serpentine descents and a meaty headbanger of a verse hook, a tasty set of guitar solos from guitarists Steve Jansson and Frank Chin plus one from bassist Matt Knox, and plenty of mystical lyrics, but the vocal melodies aren’t exactly memorable. I feel the same way about “Down in the Hollow”. It’s extremely well-written, fun to listen to, and its story is compelling, but the melodies don’t stick with me long beyond the track’s end. The band does use some clever songwriting tricks that I very much enjoy, though, such as how Wilson often sings the word “rose” in the phrase “the stygian rose” using the same downward fourth. That’s how you create a notable, compelling throughline.
The band’s best offering on that memorable melody front is “Scrying Orb”, a track that stands out as much for its central grand chorus as for its prominent keyboard part (Tanner Anderson, also of Obsequiae, does great work across the board on this front) and its quietly overcast, genre-stretching grungy verses. The closing title track, an 11-minute odyssey that starts with a lengthy solo piano introduction, finds several satisfying doomy grooves and showcasing stirring solo work while meandering through an endcap of the record’s story. There are clear parallels again to the previous album’s closer, also a title track, but “The Stygian Rose” comes across a bit less epic despite its greater length.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Perhaps all of these comparisons to The Ruins of Fading Light are unfair, and we should judge The Stygian Rose independently of Crypt Sermon’s previous work. And on that front there’s no denying that The Stygian Rose is a compelling piece of heavy metal craftmanship, showing a mature act capable of making remarkably good songs and tying together an absorbing concept across the runtime. It’s an outstanding record that’s head and shoulders above the work of most of their doom and trad metal contemporaries…and yet, if you’re like me and can’t quite extract your preset expectations, then you might be a little—just a little!—underwhelmed.