After commencing with the stately, elegiac instrumental title track, Stygian Crown aim a solid boot to the gut with second track Bushido. After that, as they say here in Australia, it’s on for youn and old…

These Los Angeleans certainly know a thing or two about bombast, absolutely peppering new album Funeral for a King with the stuff; Closing track Strait of Messina is about as dramatic as it’s possible to get without decamping to the old Vic for a week, but even this isn’t the zenith of the band’s all-out theatricality. At times, when the oh-so-high backing vocals weigh in in support of lead throat Melissa Pinion, it’s like being transported back to the glory days of Uriah Heep as helmed by David Byron. And that’s very theatrical indeed, dahling…

But you shouldn’t mistake ‘flash and excitement’ for ‘lack of substance’; FFAK is a very weighty, substantial album indeed, rammed with galumphing rhythms and bludgeoning guitars that, whilst rooted in the concept of doom, never let that tag get in the way of sparking a good headbang. This is very dynamic music, whatever it says on the tin.

The aforementioned Strait of Messina probably sees the band at their best – certainly their most resolutely metal – whilst Blood Red Eyes shows a glimpse of the songwriting ambition this band is capable of. A mixture of the two could see something spectacular emerging further down the track, but that’s not to say that they should throw more trad doom such as Scourge of the Seven Hills out with the bathwater in search of larger numbers of ears to pummel. You get the sense that, whatever Stygian Crown decide to do moving forward, it’ll be right for them. And, if it’s as good as Funeral…, well, more good times await!

Funeral For A King is Out Now.