I always find it a bit ominous when a band calls their new album “Epitaph”. And when they also invite back their previous two vocalists to guest on the final track of said album, then it feels like the tolling bell of doom is sounding clearly throughout this sixth Pyramaze album. Not that I can find any indication that the band are calling it a day, so we’ll brush past the equally foreboding and rather sombre album intro and delve into another damn fine slice of Melodic Metal.
2017’s “Contingent” was one of my favourite Melodic Power Metal releases of that year, so “Epitaph” had some hefty size 12s to fill, but with tracks like ‘Knights In Shining Armour’, ‘Your Last Call’ and ‘A Stroke Of Magic’ driving the album forward, it sounds like the past three years have been very well spent indeed as the band carry on superbly where they left off. Yes, the classy Pink Cream 69-ness is still evident along with the confident swagger of a Royal Hunt, but what is most evident now is that, maybe because this is the third release with the same line-up, the songs are just utterly Pyramaze. They have grown from band I might try and find comparisons for, to being a bench mark for other bands of this style to be compared with.
Now OK, my favourite aspect to the band is when they border on Power Metal, as with the aforementioned ‘Knights In Shining Armour’, but for me the true class of a band of the more melodic persuasion is when the mellower, more commercial tracks like ‘Bird Of Prey’ that I would normally shy away from are done in such an enigmatic, committed way, that they merge perfectly with the rest of the album, making it a travesty to skip on. Another factor I think, is those touches of the progressive within intricate arrangements and the hidden depths that the songs have which set Pyramaze aside from many of their contemporaries.
Basically, they’ve done it again. The musicianship and production on “Epitaph” are once more superb and this time around we even have the added bonus of guest vocalists! Brittney Slayes from Unleash The Archers is as fantastic as you would expect on the super-catchy ‘Transcendence’ and then you have the final 12 minute track that rounds the album out. ‘The Time Traveller’ is an epic power-house of a composition that features excellent vocal performances, led of course by current singer Terje Haroy, who emphatically stamps his authority on the track before welcoming back his long lost brothers Matt Barlow and Lance King to bring their personality and style of vocal they do best to their sections. Ultimately, a fittingly intriguing, compelling, multi-faceted finale to another great album by this excellent band.
(9/10 Andy Barker)
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