In 2020 California doomsters Stygian Crown dropped their debut self-titled release to much excitement in the metal world. The riffs, the unique vocal stylings, and the ode to classic epic doom generated quite the buzz in that community. The band is now back after a four-year hiatus with Funeral For A King, which aims to provide an even more epic doom journey, and for the most part they have succeeded, as this is quite a step forward for the relatively young (as a band, not in age) and is a killer lesson in doom.
The band mentions Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus and Black Sabbath in their bio and I can get behind all those comparisons and you can hear them all on Funeral For A King. The title track kicks it off, and I would also call out My Dying Bride here as a reference point. Iommi style riffing and a big, clean sound, right off the bat you know Stygian Crown knows what they are doing, even before the vocals kick in on the next track, Bushido, which is actually quite the ripper, leveraging another name they mention in the materials for this record, Iron Maiden. The track does slow down a bit in parts to hit you with more doom stylings, but for the most part this one is some killer up-tempo metal.
Aggression, that is what’s missing here. The riffs are here, but we lean more to the melodic side on the songs leading up to Awaken, which has the most in your face arrangement, but they still manage to get a clean section in there. This is the sort of thing the album is crying out for: Its heavy, fast and rips. Hot on its heels is Faceless, which continues in that vein, combining all of the traits you want to hear in an effective package, building up a head of steam that it hoped they take and run with. Which they don’t, going back to a relatively heavy approach on The Bird And The Tree which revisits the pattern shown on the earlier songs as does The Vigorian Man.
The band mentions Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus and Black Sabbath in their bio and I can get behind all those comparisons and you can hear them all on Funeral For A King. The title track kicks it off, and I would also call out My Dying Bride here as a reference point. Iommi style riffing and a big, clean sound, right off the bat you know Stygian Crown knows what they are doing, even before the vocals kick in on the next track, Bushido, which is actually quite the ripper, leveraging another name they mention in the materials for this record, Iron Maiden. The track does slow down a bit in parts to hit you with more doom stylings, but for the most part this one is some killer up-tempo metal.
Speaking of slowing down, Scourge Of The Seven Hills does just that, and this is where I hear that Candlemass comparison come out. Melissa Pinion’s vocals may be an acquired taste for some, but I love her unique voice, and this track is her best performance. The guitar work is great too. The sound on this album can only be described as gigantic.
The interlude Let The Snares Be Planted is a nice atmosphere setter for the theme of the record and works as a nice transition to The Bargain, my favourite track on Funeral For A King, with its super-heavy riff, glorious vocals, and early Trouble meets MDB vibes. Where The Candle Always Burns is another epic and excellent track, and I love the chug of the guitars on this one that goes along perfectly with those amazing vocals.
You want some violin you say, you get it with more My Dying Bride vibes on the dark, sparce, and beautiful Blood Red Eyes. While Blood Red Eyes is minimalist and mostly violin and voice, Beauty And Terror brings back the heaviness and the riffs and is one of the more up-tempo tracks on Funeral For A King, leveraging that Candlemass comparison mentioned throughout. The journey rounds out with more epic doom goodness with Strait Of Messina, continuing and closing with the same quality delivered across all nine tracks.
A super successful sophomore record from a band that set high expectations with their debut, Stygian Crown delivers on Funeral For A King. I just read that their drummer Rhett suffered a heart attack and is in the hospital, so I want to dedicate this review to him and wish him all the best on his recovery. Great album, yes, but Rhett getting better is way more epic than this already amazing doom album. 8/10
Traveler - Prequel To Madness (No Remorse Records) [Rich Piva]
Canadian speed/trash metal is not something I get to review often, but thankfully the new album from Traveler, Prequel To Madness, made it into my folder amongst all the stoner, doom, and hair metal bands from the 80s putting out new albums today that I usually review. These guys have been consistently great on their first two records and album three keeps up with that consistency, because it rips and keeps the traditional metal flag waving proudly.
An easy comparison here is early Maiden which is what you get right off the bat with the opening instrumental, Mayday, into the first full track, Take The Wheel. This is killer NWOTHM at its finest. The guitar work is outstanding, and the tempo of the track is enough to run you right out of your shoes. Tell me you don’t hear a little too much Aces High in this one.
A super successful sophomore record from a band that set high expectations with their debut, Stygian Crown delivers on Funeral For A King. I just read that their drummer Rhett suffered a heart attack and is in the hospital, so I want to dedicate this review to him and wish him all the best on his recovery. Great album, yes, but Rhett getting better is way more epic than this already amazing doom album. 8/10
Traveler - Prequel To Madness (No Remorse Records) [Rich Piva]
Canadian speed/trash metal is not something I get to review often, but thankfully the new album from Traveler, Prequel To Madness, made it into my folder amongst all the stoner, doom, and hair metal bands from the 80s putting out new albums today that I usually review. These guys have been consistently great on their first two records and album three keeps up with that consistency, because it rips and keeps the traditional metal flag waving proudly.
An easy comparison here is early Maiden which is what you get right off the bat with the opening instrumental, Mayday, into the first full track, Take The Wheel. This is killer NWOTHM at its finest. The guitar work is outstanding, and the tempo of the track is enough to run you right out of your shoes. Tell me you don’t hear a little too much Aces High in this one.
If you miss 80s speed/thrash when it was great then this band is for you, evidence presented in a track like Dark Skull, especially in the solos. The Law has a great dual guitar attack and continues the speed/thrash party with no signs of letting up.
Trad metal lives with Rebels Of Earth which is mid-tempo (for them) and is super catchy, think Mercyful Fate without the falsetto. Tracks like Heavy Hearts, Vagrants Of Time, and No Fate turn up the speed and fretboard mastery to 11, with the ladder being the best vocal performance on the album. The closing title track is the heaviest and best on the album. Musically reminding me of a cross between Wasted Years and Dyers Eve, this is Traveler’s best song to date as all parties involved just totally bring it to finish up this whirlwind metal experience.
I don’t listen to enough of bands like Traveler who unabashedly fly the flag of 80s trad/speed/thrash metal, but I should, especially if the output is as great as Prequel To Madness. Get ready to bang your head and get in the pit because these Canadians know how to bring the metal. 8/10
I don’t listen to enough of bands like Traveler who unabashedly fly the flag of 80s trad/speed/thrash metal, but I should, especially if the output is as great as Prequel To Madness. Get ready to bang your head and get in the pit because these Canadians know how to bring the metal. 8/10
Guiltless - Thorns EP (Neurot Recordings) [Mark Young]
A bleak, desolate and haunting future is the premise of this dark EP from Guiltless. Coming together from Intronaut, Generation Of Vipers, A Storm Of Light and Battle Of Mice, this collective looks to bring something new, be it experimental noise rock or a new distillation of industrial music, which is heavy on a sub-atomic level.
Devour Collide, with a guitar tone that owes to their industrial influence, is heavy as it is direct, with chords seemingly running to a dead stop whilst the drums just continually pound as if calling in the 4 horsemen themselves. There is discord, but within that, there is a purpose. This isn’t a collection of noise put together without thought. This is controlled emotion right across the board, culminating in an incredibly strong opening track that announces that they have something to say. And they are furious with it.
All We Destroy continues with those insistent drums, delivered in that cold, methodical way from Billy Graves. They push forward, striving for release. That guitar tone once more, providing a clarity and heaviness allowing you to hear every note as it is struck as they narrate a journey into the worst of times, that isn’t without a sense of groove about it. Some of the riff-builds here are magnificent, with elasticity as they move to and fro and ultimately hit a hard stop, as Dead-Eye begins it’s slow, bruising stop-start mode amidst delivering a tale of being in the end of times.
A bleak, desolate and haunting future is the premise of this dark EP from Guiltless. Coming together from Intronaut, Generation Of Vipers, A Storm Of Light and Battle Of Mice, this collective looks to bring something new, be it experimental noise rock or a new distillation of industrial music, which is heavy on a sub-atomic level.
Devour Collide, with a guitar tone that owes to their industrial influence, is heavy as it is direct, with chords seemingly running to a dead stop whilst the drums just continually pound as if calling in the 4 horsemen themselves. There is discord, but within that, there is a purpose. This isn’t a collection of noise put together without thought. This is controlled emotion right across the board, culminating in an incredibly strong opening track that announces that they have something to say. And they are furious with it.
All We Destroy continues with those insistent drums, delivered in that cold, methodical way from Billy Graves. They push forward, striving for release. That guitar tone once more, providing a clarity and heaviness allowing you to hear every note as it is struck as they narrate a journey into the worst of times, that isn’t without a sense of groove about it. Some of the riff-builds here are magnificent, with elasticity as they move to and fro and ultimately hit a hard stop, as Dead-Eye begins it’s slow, bruising stop-start mode amidst delivering a tale of being in the end of times.
The music definitely fits the mood, its blacker than black with that sense of forward movement there once more, never looking backward only concerned with getting us to the final track, which is a stormer. In Radiant Glow owner of one of THOSE riff arrangements, you know the one I mean where the hair stands up because it hits so well and is simple in itself. Leaning more into that doom/sludge area this is an exercise in darkness, the post-apocalyptic event is here and there is nowhere left to run. It is almost an uplifting end to the EP and closes out the four songs wonderfully.
This is what I love about EP’s, its three or four songs that highlight the best of a band ahead of an upcoming full-length release. Although I can’t see if there are any plans for that online, on the strength of the music here they must more to say because the four songs here are brimming with blackened ideas and sound shapes that share that share a common end result of the bleakest noise but are crafted to an incredibly high level. 7/10
Decrowned - Persona Non Grata (Rockshots Records) [Mark Young]
Persona Non Grata is the first full length release by Decrowned, following on from several EP’s which saw them garner acclaim amongst certain circles of the metal press. The melodic death genre is constantly being added to and in some respects, it’s becoming difficult to distinguish between bands and their releases because of this. Its not that the releases are bad, its just that you have heard it before so for something to come in and blow you away then it has to be amazing.
Ignoring the instrumental opener, Folklore Pt1 because I am utterly sick of bands employing this way of starting their albums this way. Just give me your best opening track, that’s all I want. Mouth Leaks Black starts up with a mix of synths, locking in that melodic approach from the off. Its solid, without excelling, everything you expect is in place and it is well presented. What I am not getting is a buzz of excitement from it, its simply good without being great.
This is what I love about EP’s, its three or four songs that highlight the best of a band ahead of an upcoming full-length release. Although I can’t see if there are any plans for that online, on the strength of the music here they must more to say because the four songs here are brimming with blackened ideas and sound shapes that share that share a common end result of the bleakest noise but are crafted to an incredibly high level. 7/10
Decrowned - Persona Non Grata (Rockshots Records) [Mark Young]
Persona Non Grata is the first full length release by Decrowned, following on from several EP’s which saw them garner acclaim amongst certain circles of the metal press. The melodic death genre is constantly being added to and in some respects, it’s becoming difficult to distinguish between bands and their releases because of this. Its not that the releases are bad, its just that you have heard it before so for something to come in and blow you away then it has to be amazing.
Ignoring the instrumental opener, Folklore Pt1 because I am utterly sick of bands employing this way of starting their albums this way. Just give me your best opening track, that’s all I want. Mouth Leaks Black starts up with a mix of synths, locking in that melodic approach from the off. Its solid, without excelling, everything you expect is in place and it is well presented. What I am not getting is a buzz of excitement from it, its simply good without being great.
This can be said for the album in general as each song comes in without leaving a mark on me. Rainworld continues the work started in Mouth, this time with some cleans in there and some admittedly class soloing, as does Mindparasite, pushing the synths to the front with harder attack but it feels like they are retreating back to throw a chorus that doesn’t fit. It needs to be aggressive right the way through, from start to finish. The riff was there, just go for the throat, attack it!!
Aggression, that is what’s missing here. The riffs are here, but we lean more to the melodic side on the songs leading up to Awaken, which has the most in your face arrangement, but they still manage to get a clean section in there. This is the sort of thing the album is crying out for: Its heavy, fast and rips. Hot on its heels is Faceless, which continues in that vein, combining all of the traits you want to hear in an effective package, building up a head of steam that it hoped they take and run with. Which they don’t, going back to a relatively heavy approach on The Bird And The Tree which revisits the pattern shown on the earlier songs as does The Vigorian Man.
In they follow the melodic route, showcasing some virtuoso moments but they lack that aggression to make them stand out. Title track Persona Non Grata could have closed out on a high, but it takes the template they established and follows it to a polished end. There is nothing wrong with it, with any of it really except it doesn’t grab you at all. Each of the songs are well put together and as I've said there are some really stand out solo moments, but these are fleeting when held against the full album.
It is possible that at some point melodic death will hit a saturation point like thrash did (unless it has done already) and some of these bands will fall by the wayside or find a way of evolving their sound to the next step. I’m all for melodic death as long as the bands remember that the music should be exciting, it should grip you from start to finish. This is not a bad album by any stretch. It just didn’t engage me as heavy music should. It needs that visceral edge to it which is sadly missing. 6/10
It is possible that at some point melodic death will hit a saturation point like thrash did (unless it has done already) and some of these bands will fall by the wayside or find a way of evolving their sound to the next step. I’m all for melodic death as long as the bands remember that the music should be exciting, it should grip you from start to finish. This is not a bad album by any stretch. It just didn’t engage me as heavy music should. It needs that visceral edge to it which is sadly missing. 6/10
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