GET TO THE POINT: STEVE JANSSON (CRYPT SERMON)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  4 Responses »
Jan 012015
 

 

(NCS interviewer KevinP delivers the first in a planned interview series, and this inaugural edition features guitarist Steve Jansson of Crypt Sermon — whose forthcoming debut album Out of the Garden is absolutely killer!)

Welcome to what I plan on being a monthly feature, GET TO THE POINT.  Besides wanting a fancy title for my interview segment, the idea is to be a bit more succinct, if and when possible.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be a chatty Kathy more than usual and totally not stick to it, let’s see how things turns out.  In the coming months, we will be talking to (among others):  Calvin Robertshaw (My Dying Bride), Matt Calvert (Dark Descent Records),  Öxxö Xööx (a French avant garde doom band), and Nikos Panagiotopoulos (Universe217).  So, without further ado……

*****

K:  So Enrique (Crypt Sermon’s drummer) was scared to do the interview and pawned me off onto you.  What’s up with that guy?

S:  Oh, we don’t let him do interviews. I sent his ass to get more beer, though.

Hah, nah, Brooks (vocalist) and I are generally the ones who do the interviews. It just sort of worked out that way, I guess. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: CRYPT SERMON — “DEMO MMXIII”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 202013
 

Crypt Sermon are the second doom-oriented band with a new debut release named Demo MMXIII that I’m reviewing today (the first was by Temple of Void). This is a new project, and I know only a small amount of information about them: By snooping around I’ve learned that they are from Philadelphia, the membership apparently includes Steve Jansson (Infiltrator, Grass, Trench Rot), Brooks Wilson (Grass), and James L. (Labyrinthine), among others, and the demo was mastered by Chris Grigg (Woe).

I’ll say up-front that the demo is an Exception To the Rule around here — no howls, growls, guttural vomiting, or hair-raising shrieks on this release. But  the clean vocals — whoever is doing them — are definitely one of this demo’s strengths. The music is strong in many other respects as well.

The three songs are an offering of traditional doom — the kind of music that put me in mind of Candlemass, Saint Vitus, and The Gates of Slumber — but less theatrical than some of the music from the bands I just name-dropped. I will also say up front that I have never been a die-hard fan of any of those bands, yet Crypt Sermon struck a chord, and twanged it really hard. Continue reading »

 Newer Entries