Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose
Release Date: 14th June 2024
Label: Dark Descent Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Dark Heavy Metal.
FFO: Candlemass, Khemmis, Visigoth, Eternal Champion, King Diamond, Solitude Aeternus.
Review By: Eric Wilt
If you follow modern doom metal, you know that Crypt Sermon dropped two of the best representations of the genre in their debut album, Out of the Garden, and their sophomore record, The Ruins of Fading Light. Epic in scope and bombastic in approach, Crypt Sermon set the bar for all of the other bands wishing to wield the doom metal mantle. Then the band went radio dark…at least as far as the listening public knew. There was more than one time in the past few years when I would listen to one or the other of Crypt Sermon’s first two records and wonder if we’d heard the last of them. Fortunately, we have not, for on 14 June, Crypt Sermon will make their triumphant return.
Comprised of Brooks Wilson on vocals, Enrique Sagarnaga on drums, Steve Jansson and Frank Chin on guitars, Matt Knox on bass, and Tanner Anderson on keyboards, the band has returned to unleash their new album, The Stygian Rose, on the metal listening masses, and it is an understatement to say it has been worth the wait. Using the blueprint followed by doom metal heavyweights like Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus, on The Stygian Rose, Crypt Sermon continues to create memorable songs that sound as massive as they are heavy.
Glimmers in the Underworld gets things started with a bang as guitarists Jansson and Chin hit us with their first solos before the singing even comes in. Catchy and unforgettable, the solo seems to tell the listener to get ready because there’s more where this came from. And indeed, there is.
Thunder (Perfect Mind) is next, and while being the keyboardist in a doom metal band isn’t always the most gratifying job (considering the wall of sound created by the guitars and bass), Anderson’s haunting piano parts really take this song to the next level.
Song three on The Stygian Rose, Down in the Hollow is a rocker that owes as much to traditional heavy metal as it does doom. With a faster tempo than most of the songs on the album, Down in the Hollow stands out for its headbanging riffs and huge sounding drums.
Heavy is the Crown of Bone is an eerie sounding name for song four, and the music exemplifies the mood the title creates. Especially in the intro and during the middle parts of the song, the music creates a dark and ominous tone.
The Scrying Orb is next and is the closest thing to a ballad that you will find on a Crypt Sermon album. With guitars drenched in reverb and atmospheric keyboards, the band creates the perfect soundscape for Wilson’s vocals to feature as the focal point of the song.
Clocking in at over eleven minutes, the longest track on the album is also the final song on the album. The title track, The Stygian Rose, brings the focus back to the keyboards briefly as Anderson plays the song in. This is followed by some of Crypt Sermon’s heaviest metal on the album. Traversing a number of moods and deliveries, The Stygian Rose brings all of the aspects of the previous songs together for one final display of all that Crypt Sermon brings to the table and shows why they are the leaders of the pack when it comes to modern doom metal.
If, like me, you have been waiting with bated breath for the return of the mighty Crypt Sermon, your wait is over, and it was worth it. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of listening to a Crypt Sermon record, The Stygian Rose is a perfect place for you to begin. Fans of doom metal and/or traditional heavy metal will find much to enjoy on this record. 
(4.5 / 5)
