Kryst The Conqueror — Deliver Us From Evil

Kryst The Conqueror released the Deliver Us From Evil EP in January 1990, a five-song stopgap from Misfits alumni Jerry Only and Doyle that metal fans still dig up for its oddball pedigree: Jeff Scott Soto on vocals, uncredited guitar help from Dave "Snake" Sabo, and riffs that sit somewhere between Manowar bombast and early thrash.

Why it matters

This record is a snapshot of the late-’80s metal fringes, where punk horror-punk veterans tried a full stylistic turn. For fans of the Misfits, Skid Row or the era’s shred-and-anthem bands, the EP shows how two founding Misfits members tried to trade corpse paint for comic-book mythology and big, riff-driven songs — and why that gamble failed.

From horror punk to crusading metal

After the Misfits split in 1983 and legal battles over the name, Jerry Only and his brother Doyle set out to build something very different. They called it Kryst The Conqueror, sketched a sci-fi/religious concept and imagined comic-book alter egos. The plan included a planned theatrical frontman — Jerry even said they hoped to land Bruce Dickinson — but when that didn’t happen they hired Jeff Scott Soto, fresh from work with Yngwie Malmsteen.

The sessions

Soto flew to New Jersey and, together with drummer Jim Murphy (The Murp), put down 13 songs in under two weeks at House Of Music studio in West Orange. Five of those tracks were issued as the Deliver Us From Evil EP on Jerry and Doyle’s Cyclopean Music Inc. label in January 1990; titles from the sessions include Thunder Thruster, In God We Trust and the Maiden-tinged prog mini-epic March Of The Mega-mites.

Soto later called his role a job more than a calling: "I was a total gun for hire," he told Classic Rock, and he chose not to stick with the project long-term.

Aftermath and legacy

The EP sold to a niche audience at best and the comic-book ambitions proved too costly. A handful of Kryst riffs resurfaced when Jerry and Doyle regained the Misfits name in the mid-’90s and worked with Michale Graves; at least one song from the Kryst era, "Dr Phibes Rises Again," turned up on the 2001 compilation Cuts From The Crypt. Bootlegs of the full Soto sessions still circulate among collectors.

Deliver Us From Evil is a curiosity — part Christian-metal schtick, part hardcore legacy project — but it’s also a useful footnote: a glimpse of how punk founders tried to reinvent themselves during the big-hair metal years, and why some experiments deserve to be rediscovered.