Stygian Crown‘s self-titled debut has been sold to me with the elevator pitch of “epic doom inspired by Bolt Thrower“—which is a proposition I can hardly say no to. As these pitches often go, the Bolt Thrower influence is maybe played up a bit. Some of the lead guitars do sound like the lumbering, strangely triumphant lead guitars of Bolt Thrower at times and some of the riffs do sound darker and more aggressive than what a lot of similar acts would serve up. Overall, I was not really sold on their debut, but Funeral for a King sees the band return with significantly improved writing and performances, as they seem to lean into their death doom influence stronger than before. The amalgamation of death and epic doom tropes leads to a uniquely feeling album. This feels grimier and darker and more like it fits with the Conan the Barbarian or Lucio Fulci‘s “Conquest” style cover art that a lot of these bands tend to choose for their albums. Stygian Crown deal with their influences creatively and meld them into a whole that seems more cohesive and tighter than before. The performances enhance this as well, particularly when unique choices are being made. For example, on opening track “Bushido”, a counter vocal line is treated with effects to almost make it appear like a lead guitar—and it is a detail that I missed on my first listen. Additional instrumentation rounds out the album and the core style of the band is as tight as it has ever been.
Unfortunately, I cannot quite say the same about the album as a whole. To a degree, I am willing to admit that this is a “me issue”, as some of my pet peeves weigh the album down for me. Intro track “Funeral for a King” doesn’t introduce material of the opening track or anything that recurs later in the album and feels like it could have been cut without losing much. The band further indulges by including both an interlude (which admittedly does feel like a decent suspenseful build up for the track that comes after) and a ballad completely devoid of heavy guitars. Ballads are a sticking point for me anyway, as I rarely feel they belong on a metal album for all the tonal inconsistencies they bring with them by default. It feels a bit like the ballad was included as a type of showpiece for the singer’s vocal talent. I would be remiss to not highlight Melissa Pinion‘s vocals. Pinion is willing to forgo most of the usual female fronted vocalist playbook and serves up a rugged and tough sounding clean vocal performance. Paradoxically, it is the ballad where the vocals work the least. Pinion‘s vocals do sound pressed at times, which is not an issue in the heavier tracks as it suits their tense nature, but the limitations of this vocal style become apparent when a more intimate vocal performance is mandatory. Despite these hiccups, I am on board for the Stygian Crown train now. The band does what I wanted them to do and if the score appears low, it is only for my personal distaste of balladry and for our blog’s mantra to round down when in doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised if it entered general rotation nonetheless.
