Pyramaze
Disciples of the Sun
Inner Wound Recordings
2015
Pyramaze is a quite decent melodic metal band, that has a lot of prog sensitivities, while still managing to pack a punch in their compositions and had the good fortune to feature, people like Lance King, Matt Barlow and Urban Breed, all quite fine vocalists in their own right, but in that respect no real sense of continuity, when it comes to vocalist, sounding a little disjointed before that. It should then come as no surprise that they nowadays have a new singer, the very fine Terje Haroy, who holds quite well on his own right vocally, obviously, but is not as instantly recognizable as some of them are.
“Disciples of the Sun” is probably one of the more melodic entries in the Pyramaze catalog and certainly a bit different than the previous album “Immortal” which is not some 7 years old… wow, time does, indeed fly…
“We are the Ocean” is a mysterious and sweeping intro based on piano that leads us straight into “The Battle of Paridas” a mid-tempo sci-fi epic number, which is quite interesting and gloriously melodic. Terje, fits the music, which is now a lot more melodic and layered, probably not as immediate as previously, but the band, has enough of a bite and intellect to keep things, interesting and flowing.
The title track, has Terje ascending vocally, and while it’s deeply prog, it even seems to visit, early Evergrey territories, in terms of splendor, while not straying from the mid tempi.
“Back For More” has a nice key/guitar combo introducing it, that’s somewhat pomp/aor-y, but then continues on with some more dynamic themes taking over, while it changes the overall mantle quite a few times, which makes it quite endearing.
“Genetic Process” is decent, melodic, mid-tempo, but doesn’t quite stick out as the previous numbers.
“Fearless” pushes the accelerator pedal, but only up to a point, but maintains the highly melodic facets mainly because of the vocals.
“Perfectly Imperfect” is a throwback into slower and proggier territories. While it has some nice sweeping keyboards they do seem to obscure the guitars at times… so it feels a bit misguided and if it weren’t for a nice enough chorus, it would have lacked the sparkle, necessary for it to shine.
“Unveil” is more cinematic and again keyboard led, with only spartan guitars. It’s not bad, but it feels too similar to the average… Pyramaze tunes. While all the tunes – are either good or have enough interesting aspects, what I feel the band lacks would be some signature tunes.
“Hope Springs Eternal” does very little to diversify itself, but still manages to rise above mediocrity.
“Exposure” almost continues down the same path, but thankfully it’s small fireworks, seem to make it stray from the path, every now and again...
On “When Black Turns to White” the band again doesn’t take any chances stylistically, but at least they manage to pull all stops and even the cascading and long chorus, doesn’t distract from the fact, it’s a pretty good song actually.
Last but not least there’s “Photograph”, not a Def Leppard cover, but an original, a quite short atmospheric and reserved, slower and highly melodic track that fells as good as any, as an epilogue to the album if not a little pessimistic.
Pyramaze’s fourth effort, is a quality one, but the band seems unable to diversify themselves enough to get to a higher level. They still maintain a very high overall level in almost every aspect but do feel a bit more generic than I feel they should... right now they should appeal to fans of the Lance King albums of theirs and overall the works of Lance, Anubis Gate and even a less melancholic and earlier Evergrey… which ain’t bad, by any stretch of the imagination…
“Disciples of the Sun” is probably one of the more melodic entries in the Pyramaze catalog and certainly a bit different than the previous album “Immortal” which is not some 7 years old… wow, time does, indeed fly…
“We are the Ocean” is a mysterious and sweeping intro based on piano that leads us straight into “The Battle of Paridas” a mid-tempo sci-fi epic number, which is quite interesting and gloriously melodic. Terje, fits the music, which is now a lot more melodic and layered, probably not as immediate as previously, but the band, has enough of a bite and intellect to keep things, interesting and flowing.
The title track, has Terje ascending vocally, and while it’s deeply prog, it even seems to visit, early Evergrey territories, in terms of splendor, while not straying from the mid tempi.
“Back For More” has a nice key/guitar combo introducing it, that’s somewhat pomp/aor-y, but then continues on with some more dynamic themes taking over, while it changes the overall mantle quite a few times, which makes it quite endearing.
“Genetic Process” is decent, melodic, mid-tempo, but doesn’t quite stick out as the previous numbers.
“Fearless” pushes the accelerator pedal, but only up to a point, but maintains the highly melodic facets mainly because of the vocals.
“Perfectly Imperfect” is a throwback into slower and proggier territories. While it has some nice sweeping keyboards they do seem to obscure the guitars at times… so it feels a bit misguided and if it weren’t for a nice enough chorus, it would have lacked the sparkle, necessary for it to shine.
“Unveil” is more cinematic and again keyboard led, with only spartan guitars. It’s not bad, but it feels too similar to the average… Pyramaze tunes. While all the tunes – are either good or have enough interesting aspects, what I feel the band lacks would be some signature tunes.
“Hope Springs Eternal” does very little to diversify itself, but still manages to rise above mediocrity.
“Exposure” almost continues down the same path, but thankfully it’s small fireworks, seem to make it stray from the path, every now and again...
On “When Black Turns to White” the band again doesn’t take any chances stylistically, but at least they manage to pull all stops and even the cascading and long chorus, doesn’t distract from the fact, it’s a pretty good song actually.
Last but not least there’s “Photograph”, not a Def Leppard cover, but an original, a quite short atmospheric and reserved, slower and highly melodic track that fells as good as any, as an epilogue to the album if not a little pessimistic.
Pyramaze’s fourth effort, is a quality one, but the band seems unable to diversify themselves enough to get to a higher level. They still maintain a very high overall level in almost every aspect but do feel a bit more generic than I feel they should... right now they should appeal to fans of the Lance King albums of theirs and overall the works of Lance, Anubis Gate and even a less melancholic and earlier Evergrey… which ain’t bad, by any stretch of the imagination…