Cruz Del Sur Music has announced the signing of Los Angeles doom metallers Stygian Crown. The label will release the band’s self-titled debut in May 2020.

Stygian Crown was formed in 2018 by former Morgion and current Gravehill drummer Rhett Davis, who tapped his Gravehill bandmates Nelson Miranda (guitar) and Jason Thomas (bass) to help launch the band. Morbid Eclipse guitarist Andy Hicks was the next to join, and with the help of longtime friend Bob Kassing, vocalist Melissa Pinion was discovered after Kassing (who has since sadly passed away) introduced her to Davis. Shortly thereafter, Davis’s wife discovered a YouTube video of her singing a cover of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, making her the perfect fit for Stygian Crown.

“Jason, Nelson and I have been doing Gravehill for quite a while,” notes Davis. “The three of us had always wanted to do a band in this vein so we started writing music in between commitments for Gravehill. The three of us are fans of Andy’s band, Morbid Eclipse, and invited him to sit in with us. His chemistry with Nelson — that Adrian Smith/Dave Murray type of chemistry — you can’t fabricate that. Personally, I admire guitarists who can mesh like that. Melissa also has quite a bit of music to contribute — more than we can keep up with.”

To date, Stygian Crown has only the 2018 Through Divine Rite demo to their credit. The demo was initially tracked before Pinion joined the band, but once she laid down her vocals and the mixing and mastering process was complete, the three-song offering quickly started making the rounds in the doom community. It wasn’t too long before Stygian Crown fell into the lap of a familiar face.

“We were initially contacted by Skol Records, but while discussing with [label owner] Bart Gabriel, he handed us over to Tom Phillips of While Heaven Wept to instead work with Cruz Del Sur. It was surreal to find ourselves working with Cruz Del Sur, as an old friend of mine Aesop Dekker (ex-Agalloch) recommended the label to me months previously. Just them, nobody else.”

Stygian Crown is currently hard at work on their debut self-titled album. Drums will be tracked at Trench Studios (Exhumed, Hirax) with John Haddad. Guitars, bass and vocals will be tracked at Miranda’s home studio, and mixing and mastering will be handled by Mark Kelson of The Eternal’s Kelsonic Studios in Australia.

As for what fans can expect, try this combination on for size:

“It’s a concoction we call ‘Candlethrower,’” enthuses Davis. “We wanted to expand on the approach of bands like Candlemass and Bolt Thrower — our new material combines both. Add Melissa’s vocals, some synth and it’s epic all the way!”

(Photo by: Elizabeth Gore)