Comments:
Pyramaze's debut CD, Melancholy Beast, was one of the last
year's biggest surprises and also one of the top releases. Not only
were the compositions written to such a level that only the best musicians
could play the songs, but former Balance of Power singer Lance King
offered up one of the best vocal performances of the year. Now, Pyramaze's
new CD, Legend of the Bone Carver, has the daunting task of
besting their prior release … and they lose the battle.
Legend
of the Bone Carver is a concept album, about the balance of good
and evil being tipped to the dark side, and that one cannot exist
with the other. The cheese factor in the intro, though, starts things
poorly. Take these words, for instance: "Every time something
bad happened, something good would take its place, elsewhere."
Basically, a wish goes out for something or someone to bring back
balance, and thus the tale begins …
"The
Birth" has sort of an Iron Maiden opening guitar intro, and if
you have never heard guitarist and main songwriter Michael Kammeyer,
he's a talent. King picks up where he left off on the last album,
lancing through the music to declare his presence with a high and
clear first vocal line. Jonah Weingarten adds the nuances and atmosphere
with understated keys, and this is what you'd expect from Pyramaze.
They set the tone perfectly with "The Birth."
The
next song is their first single, "What Lies Beyond," and
it's heavier and grittier than the first track. In fact, it's probably
the heaviest song Pyramaze has ever written, at least in parts. While
Kammeyer is the guitarist, they added Toke Skjønnemand to handle
leads this time around, and he takes the solos to an epic new level.
You'll start getting jazzed from hearing these first two tracks, for
sure.
Things
start changing with "Ancient Words Within." Sounding too
similar to the prior tracks and with King singing the same melody
lines, you'll get a repetitive feeling from this song. In fact, it
sounds like King's other band, Avian. Drummer Morten Gade stands out
the strongest here, with amazing power and rabid drum fills.
When
they do change tempos, it is with "She Who Summoned Me."
A mournful ballad, King steals the show and Weingarten has his chance
in the spotlight as well. While some of the other tracks have so much
cacophony you can't follow the lyrics, that doesn't happen here. This
track is actually a duet with a female voice, and it's the kind of
song you will listen to time and time again.
Triumphant
and somewhat joyously manic, "The Bone Carver" is up next.
While King was added after the vocal parts were written on Melancholy
Beast, you can tell the band understands how to write for him this
time around. King is one of metal's best singers, period.
"Tears
of Hate" ends the tale, another heavy as hell track. King sings
along with himself in layered tracks, two-part harmony, and it creates
a stunning vocal presence. Of course, the song has to have the spoken-word
ending, and it once again turns the cheese factor up to high. "And
in the end, the peace was restored. But war left its scars on the
souls and on the hearts of every living creature."
All
in all, Legend of the Bone Carver beats the piss out of most
releases today. But when you set the mark so high with your debut
CD, and you add in new players to make the band better … you
can't settle for less. Maybe if the band deleted the spoken sections
of the CD, it'd score better. You know that Pyramaze is a concept
band, because Melancholy Beast is of the same ilk. Hell, they
even have a spoken section on the first track of that CD, but it doesn't
seem to interfere with the overall appeal. Regardless, Pyramaze can
brag that they have some of the best musicians and one of the best
singers in metal today. Let's hope their next release takes advice
from Aerosmith and lets the music do the talking.
www.pyramaze.com
01. Era Of Chaos
02. The Birth
03. What Lies Beyond
04. Ancient Words Within
05. Souls In Pain
06. She Who Summoned Me
07. The Bone Carver
08. Bring Back Life
09. Blood Red Skies
10. Tears Of Hate
11. Flame And Retribution (bonus track Japan)
HRH
Rating: 7.4/10
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