And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Blank canvas. Blank page. No words. Then came … Poetry. Psalms. Hymns. The power and the glory. OMG – Oh My Godthrymm! This is the one, my good brothers – one for the ages, one for the rampages, the spillages, the courageous.
The Chernobyl disaster rocked the then-Soviet Union in 1986. Ronald Reagan was the president. Gas was just over a dollar a gallon (Editor’s note, gas was $2.14 per gallon nationwide in 1984). Times were much different so many decades ago, which makes it all the more remarkable that epic doom metal pioneers Candlemass – who formed in 1984 – continue to wield the torch of the scene, guiding the masses and collecting newcomers along the way.
Stygian Crown’s full-length debut sits comfortably within the Epic Doom Metal niche, but their particular style comes from a more aggressive mindset than many of their peers. This is especially apparent with the guitar work, which exhibits a grainy tone and bulldozing riff patterns that are chunkier than the Classic Metal-derived fare of more conventional outfits. It never goes full-on Death/Doom but the band’s declaration of a Candlemass meets Bolt Thrower sound certainly makes sense when viewed through this lens.