Massacre
2008
1. Arise (Intro)
2. Year of the Phoenix
3. Ghost Light
4. Touched by the Mara
5. A Beautiful Death
6. Legacy in a Rhyme
7. Caramon's Poem
8. The Highland
9. Shadow of the Beast
10. March through an Endless Rain (Outro)
After Legend Of The Bonecarver this reviewer was already looking forward to what Pyramaze could deliver next time, but then came the news that Matt Barlow would be rejoining the metal world on this album and that just pushed interest to a whole other level. Anyone who knows me knows that Matt Barlow is my favorite singer period so the news to me was utterly thrilling, as it seemed to be for a lot of people. Certainly, this move brought some additional interest to Pyramaze that they deserved in the first place in my opinion.
The only thing that disappoints me about this album is the fact that we will only get to hear this excellent combination of Pyramaze and Barlow once. Musically, Immortal is similar to what Pyramaze has always done except that both the music and definitely the vocals seem to have more muscle to them without losing the feel the band has always had. The riffs just seem to have been amped up to accommodate Matt's deeper and heavier voice and it completely works here. I loved Lance King in this band, but Matt has a wider range of sounds and the music benefits from the fact he can go from heavy to powerfully emotive. A good example of this would be a track like Ghost Light which gos from aggressive, semi-growled verses to a big and synth driven smooth chorus. Other noteworthy tracks include Caramon's poem which has the almost too awesome combo of Matt's power, lyrics about some of my favorite books, and killer epic music. Also, Legacy In A Rhyme which could only be loosely called a metal song in that it's on a metal album. Good music is good music though and this piano driven ballad with basically no guitar is incredibly well written and beautiful. That one is absolutely a highlight of the album.
In the end this album does end up sounding a bit different because of the extremely different voice at the helm, but this is more or less the same Pyramaze musically that I loved the first and second times around. As excited as I am to hear Matt back and I like him with the band, I have to say that I enjoy this and their past work about equally, just in different ways. Lance King was great at painting one flowing sound and atmosphere which gave their albums a great flow to them where as Matt offers more diversity to the music from song to song. Both eras can stand on their own imo as different and great chapters in this young band's history and I'm just glad they found another good frontman if only for one album.
Basically, these are just talented songwriters who deliver with the help of either great vocalist and here's hoping they find another one to fill the empty vocalist spot. I'll be hoping for more killer Pyramaze music the next time around. I recommend this to anyone who likes the thought of atmospheric power metal with some speed and balls to it.
Highlights: Caramon's Poem, Legacy In A Rhyme, Ghost Light, Touched By The Mara
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Year of the Phoenix
3. Ghost Light
4. Touched by the Mara
5. A Beautiful Death
6. Legacy in a Rhyme
7. Caramon's Poem
8. The Highland
9. Shadow of the Beast
10. March through an Endless Rain (Outro)
After Legend Of The Bonecarver this reviewer was already looking forward to what Pyramaze could deliver next time, but then came the news that Matt Barlow would be rejoining the metal world on this album and that just pushed interest to a whole other level. Anyone who knows me knows that Matt Barlow is my favorite singer period so the news to me was utterly thrilling, as it seemed to be for a lot of people. Certainly, this move brought some additional interest to Pyramaze that they deserved in the first place in my opinion.
The only thing that disappoints me about this album is the fact that we will only get to hear this excellent combination of Pyramaze and Barlow once. Musically, Immortal is similar to what Pyramaze has always done except that both the music and definitely the vocals seem to have more muscle to them without losing the feel the band has always had. The riffs just seem to have been amped up to accommodate Matt's deeper and heavier voice and it completely works here. I loved Lance King in this band, but Matt has a wider range of sounds and the music benefits from the fact he can go from heavy to powerfully emotive. A good example of this would be a track like Ghost Light which gos from aggressive, semi-growled verses to a big and synth driven smooth chorus. Other noteworthy tracks include Caramon's poem which has the almost too awesome combo of Matt's power, lyrics about some of my favorite books, and killer epic music. Also, Legacy In A Rhyme which could only be loosely called a metal song in that it's on a metal album. Good music is good music though and this piano driven ballad with basically no guitar is incredibly well written and beautiful. That one is absolutely a highlight of the album.
In the end this album does end up sounding a bit different because of the extremely different voice at the helm, but this is more or less the same Pyramaze musically that I loved the first and second times around. As excited as I am to hear Matt back and I like him with the band, I have to say that I enjoy this and their past work about equally, just in different ways. Lance King was great at painting one flowing sound and atmosphere which gave their albums a great flow to them where as Matt offers more diversity to the music from song to song. Both eras can stand on their own imo as different and great chapters in this young band's history and I'm just glad they found another good frontman if only for one album.
Basically, these are just talented songwriters who deliver with the help of either great vocalist and here's hoping they find another one to fill the empty vocalist spot. I'll be hoping for more killer Pyramaze music the next time around. I recommend this to anyone who likes the thought of atmospheric power metal with some speed and balls to it.
Highlights: Caramon's Poem, Legacy In A Rhyme, Ghost Light, Touched By The Mara
Rating - 4.0/5
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