There are bands that are slaves to genre, and bands beholden to none. The journey from the first to the second can often be rife with fractures both small and large, but thankfully Pennsylvania’s Crypt Sermon have charted a true path over the course of three albums. Their latest, The Stygian Rose, arrives with phantom tendrils that lead back to their doom and traditional roots, but the trail is littered with cast aside homages and influences, all prefixes abandoned in favor of the one, the only word that matters.

Metal. Of the most righteous kind.

Since 2015’s debut Out of the Garden the band has been a rallying point for those who love the dark, riff-heavy doom metal of titans like Candlemass, but as anyone who’s ever had the chance to see the band live knows, simple homage and emulation was never the band’s focus. 2019’s The Ruins of Fading Light started the leap away, factoring in more traditional metal elements and faster tempos, all anchored by the propulsive drumming of Enrique Sagarnaga, the endless riffage of Steve Jansson, and the singular voice of Brooks Wilson who can go from granite throaty roar to soaring clear highs over a single lyric. Five years later with The Stygian Rose we have a new expanded lineup and it’s a murderer’s row of talent, including Frank Chin on second guitar, Matt Knox of Horrendous on bass, and Tanner Anderson of Obsequaie and more recently Majesties on keyboards, Throw in master producer Arthur Rizk as the unspoken seventh member (he’s been behind the boards for every album) and there’s little chance of The Stygian Rose falling short of anyone’s expectations.

But what’s even more impressive is just how much this group have upped their game. Every song feels wrought on a much larger canvas, every riff and solo honed to a razor’s edge without sacrificing vibe and spontaneity. It starts with “Glimmers in the Underworld” where after a very brief intro the band wastes no time in punching you with one of their most rocking riffs to date. Then a solo that tears your face off, calling back to the halcyon days where fretboard pyrotechnics weren’t a transgression for metal bands. Another crushing riff and Wilson’s voice arrives with a clarity and purpose that’s frankly astonishing. Five years away have made the band hungry, and coupled with the growth of Rizk as a producer everything about The Stygian Rose screams to a band out for blood, for capturing glory in a ironed glove.

It’s not all galloping rockers; when the band want to take it to more darkened and mournful corners they can deliver like few others can. “Thunder (Perfect Mind)” has luscious harmonized guitar lines that ride deep and heavy rhythms that echo past masters like Candlemass but go even further back to embrace pieces of Pentagram, even Witchfinder General, while maintaining an epic modern vision. The addition of Anderson on keyboards gives Crypt Sermon a chance to broaden even further, using new colors to impart a strange twist of Mercyful Fate black magick and the kind of sumptuous 80s AOR vocal delivery largely missing from the scene today on late track “Scrying Orb.” The track just might be Brooks Wilson’s best performance in a catalog full of great performances.

But if there’s a clear winner in the bunch, it’s the closing 11-minute title track. Everything the band has developed over the course of their decade-plus existence culminates in the best song of their career. Frank Chin mixes beautifully with Janssen, creating a guitar tone other bands would kill for, while Matt Knox – a guy who knows his way around a bass – provides the kind of foundation others would be afraid to take on for fear of being “lost”. No fear here, as you can feel in your bones the gravity his low-end is generating.

For all the (well deserved) indie cred Crypt Sermon have been given over the years, it’s great to see – and more importantly hear – how the band have refused to sit in place, taking an established sound and bringing it to new and unique places that immediately signal new horizons to conquer. The Stygian Rose is the kind of metal record that can make someone a metal fan. It is without shame in its goal to bring to light the darkness that made so many of us fall in love with loud, heavy music. May the band continue to remind us all: put away your death, your black, your doom.

Prefixes mean nothing here; it’s the metal that matters most.

-Chris

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The Stygian Rose is available June 14 from Dark Descent Records. For more information on Crypt Sermon, check out their Facebook page.