EPITAPH

Danish veterans Pyramaze are back with album number #6 in a career that spans just over 15 years. With Epitaph, the band continues to perfect their special blend of metal, combining the soaring epicness of power metal, lush symphonic arrangements, progressive structures, and some faint AOR / melodic rock influences. It's a mix that may not be terribly original, but is well balanced and puts Pyramaze in a similar camp as bands like Kamelot and Evergrey, with a sound that is at the same time dark, epic and melodic.

Epitaph is the classic album packed with potential singles - anthems with big, soaring choruses that are instantly likeable and tend to stay with the listener long after the needle has left the grooves. I find that this songwriting approach - all centered around the big choruses - often backfires, as the overemphasized choruses tend to suck the life out the songs due to structures and arrangements that are oversimplified and geared mostly to providing support to the chorus melody. The result is music that may be catchy on first listen, but has almost zero long-term listening value. Fortunately, Pyramaze have been around long enough to know better. Although in various places they flirt with pop-metal influences (the single "Particle" is a primary example), their songwriting is well balanced and firmly rooted in the progressive/power metal tradition, which allows them to escape the pitfalls suffered by many other contemporary melodic pop-metal acts (countrymen Defecto, for example).

Partly, the merits of this lie in the fantastic symphonic arrangements that flourish throughout the album. Keyboardist Jonah Weingarten really shines here, moving at ease between lush orchestral parts and delicate piano arpeggios. With the guitars largely relegated to a rhythmic role (and some occasional solos), the keyboards and orchestrations play really a key role on Epitaph. Another strength of the album lies in the incredibly tasty choice of vocal melodies by singer Terje Harøy: his vocal lines are catchy but never banal or kitschy, which is crucial for achieving the right balance between melodic accessibility and artistic value. His voice might come across as somewhat nondescript (he does not have the immediately recognizable timbre of former Pyramaze's singers Lance King or Matt Barlow), but is very pleasant and is used perfectly in the context of the songs. At times he reminds me of Roy Khan, although with a slightly more AOR / hard rock quality to his voice.

The songs on Epitaph come roughly in three flavors. Most tracks are mid-tempos with a fairly simple structure (verse/chorus/verse) and excellent choruses with soaring vocals. Taken individually, these songs are very pleasant, although they are somewhat less impactful in the context of a full-length, where they are often placed one next to another and tend to blur together somewhat (for instance, the opening sequence "A Stroke of Magic" - "Steal My Crown" - "Knights in Shining Armour"). In the middle, the album switches to a lower gear, with softer pieces like the ballad "Bird of Prey" or the poppy single "Particles". The second half of the album contains the most epic songs and is the strongest. "Transcendence" features an excellent cameo from Unleash the Archers' Brittney Hayes. "Final Hour" is a brisker track, with an oblique guitar riff that wouldn't have disfigured on the latest album by Conception. "World Foregone" is perhaps the best track of the album - very dark and epic, with a gorgeous choral part in the coda, it reminds me of the best pieces written by Evergrey. The pièce de résistance of the album, however, is closing track "The Time Traveller", a complex, multi-part 12 minute tour de force. The biggest surprise here is the guest spot of the two former Pyramaze's singers Lance King and Matt Barlow, who swap vocal duties with Terje Harøy throughout the song. It's a great track and a highlight of the album, although its structure is perhaps a tad too convoluted and the song therefore requires multiple listens to properly sink in.

Overall, Epitaph is a strong album that delivers both in terms of immediate likeability and long-term listening value. This is a rare find in the musical landscape these days and Pyramaze deserve praise for resisting the temptation of playing the melodic card at the expense of content and substance. With soaring melodies, rich symphonic arrangements and darkly epic undertones, Epitaph will appeal to fans of bands like Kamelot, Evergrey and Iced Earth.

(Originally written for The Metal Observer)