Crypt Sermon Unveil Details For New Album, 'The Stygian Rose'

Black Sabbath changed the world we know and love with Paranoid. Candlemass defined their career with Ancient Dreams. Pantera were four albums in before they heavily shifted paradigms on Cowboys from Hell. And Mayhem weren't even a band when De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas slithered into metaldom's cellar. Now, Crypt Sermon stand at their crossroads with The Stygian Rose, out June 14 on Dark Descent. It's their time—the culmination of their journey. 

Featuring guitarist Steve Jansson (Daeva, Unrest), vocalist Brooks Wilson (Unrest), drummer Enrique Sagarnaga (Daeva, The Silver), guitarist Frank Chin (Daeva), bassist Matt Knox (Horrendous, The Silver), and keyboardist Tanner Anderson (Obsequiae, Majesties), the Philadelphia-based sextet parlayed their time away into a grander, more mysterious Crypt Sermon. The interflow of doom and heavy metals underpins The Stygian Rose, but these boundaries are effortlessly transcended. "We feel unrestrained now," Wilson says. "We thought, if the word 'epic' in doom metal means anything, it's without constraint. What's more vast than being unconstrained?" Sagarnaga continues, "There's a lot of variety on the album, and I think that's not just because we get bored easily—which we do, actually—but rather this is who we are."

From the commanding rhythm of "Heavy is the Crown of Bone"— which premieres today alongside a ravishing music video by The C.O.I.N..— Crypt Sermon brandish their musical and conceptual prowess.  The song thunders in on cloven hoof before giving way to Crypt Sermon's muscular doom and stomp.  

Singer Brooks Wilson shares, "This song follows our unnamed protagonist summon an entity from 'The Ars Goetia' as he seeks sacred consummation with the Divine Feminine. We were happy to work with The C.O.I.N. in achieving our concept, adding a visual element to our music that incorporates much of the esoteric symbolism embedded in 'The Stygian Rose.'"