Pyramaze - Immortal 2008

Tracks
1. Arise
2. Year of the Phoenix
3. Ghost Light
4. Touched by the Mara
5. A Beautiful Death
6. Legacy of a Rhyme
7. Caramon's Poem
8. The Highland
9. Shadow of the Beast
10. March Through an Endless Rain

Band:
Michael Kammeyer (G)
Mattew Barlow (V)
Morten G Sorensen (D)
Jonah Weingarten (K)
Niels Kvist (B)
Toke Skonnemand (G)

Discography:
Melancholy Beast (2004)
Legend Of The Bone Carver (2006)

Links:
pyramaze.com
myspace
locomotive

Once upon a time I received a record, a record by a band, a Danish-American band to be more precise. That record was called Melancholy Beast and was the debut album of this band that is being reviewed now. That record received, not flying collars, but a very low rating thanks to the fact that it was an awful record. So what has happened since then?

To answer the question that ended the last paragraph we can firstly say that it is another year and the band has done not just this but one more record before this one. But the probably most prominent thing is that the former singer Lance King was fired to give place for Matt Barlow, you know the former Iced Earth singer who no longer is a former Iced Earth singer as he now is a part of that band again. He sings on his one and only record for Pyramaze if we should believe band founder Michael Kammeyer.

That thing definitely promises as much as the promotion sheet did for the debut, so even if my hopes was slightly high as new times and new singer really would make for an interesting album. Hopefully the band has gone through some form of maturing that would promise for a more interesting and coherent album than the debut, I have not heard the second album so I can’t tell if the band was on the right track before this one.

It all starts well with an intro track and then Year of the Phoenix which actually is a quite good song which sounds about the same as Iced Earth today would have sounded if Matt Barlow was in the band at the release of the latest album.

Musically I would say that Pyramaze of 2008 sounds like Iced Earth, it means heavy riffing, heavy drumming, some majestic sounds and melodies, it all sounds well and good, the sound is much clearer and more well produced than the debut and the album is far more coherent.

As we move on through the album I find that the album is more solid and feels way more mature than the debut. Still there is something missing, the band just can’t find that feeling that leads the listener into the album, that engulfs you as a listener. The album feels quite dull and unimaginative, it just doesn’t lift from the ground to soar over the trees. One good thing though, the album doesn’t feel too long, well it does, but not too annoying.

Still, this album is not good but comparing to the debut it is a definite improvement, therefore I say that Pyramaze is on the right track.

Maybe this band is finding the right way out of the pyramid soon.

HHHHHHH