Pyramaze – Bloodlines
Pyramaze – Bloodlines
AFM Records
Release Date: 23/06/23
Running Time: 42:27
Review by Simon Black
8/10
Denmark’s Pyramaze have been around for two decades now and it’s always a challenge for bands to stay fresh when they’ve been through a fair few album cycles. It’s my experience, in the main the first couple of records are easier, as there’s a whole bunch of material that’s been simmering for a number of years and which has been worked through its paces live and honed accordingly. It’s from album number three that the challenges often begin, as the band are forced to write from scratch to meet a release deadline and don’t get the chance to refine them from live feedback (although there’s usually enough stuff in the work in progress that they aren’t starting from the ground up).
The real step into the dark comes after that, when it really is working from a blank sheet and the reality is many bands struggle to find the rhythm there and quality can start to make a noticeable drop. Then, a little later on, in the main their confidence and experience as professional songwriters reaches a point where they can work through the problem and deliver on demand with quality, consistency and at speed. Not being familiar with their back catalogue, I can’t opine with any certainty for Pyramaze, with regard to how this flow unfolded since 2004, but listening to this album and this band with fresh ears I can clearly hear in “Bloodlines” that this act are well and truly in their stride at this point in their career.
This four-piece have crafted a hugely accessible ear worm of a record which is going to appeal to the Power Metal, Hard Rock and Melodic Metal audience equally broadly, but has enough Progressive flourishes for old muso hacks like me to nod along appreciatively to. Prog can turn off the more casual listener when it’s too overt in its flourishes, but Pyramaze add this as a subtle overspin that creeps subtly into the arrangements, adds some nice clever licks and twists when bridging into phrasing changes and allows some nice moments of technical brilliance to an album that in all other respects is trying its darndest to achieve a broad audience appeal.
After the predictable instrumental intro tape of ‘Bloodlines’ (making this an unusual choice for the album title) ‘Taking What’ Mine’ is a hugely anthemic fist pumper, with one of the most effectively catchy chorus melody lines I’ve heard in a while and from then on I’m listening. Although that’s a high point with regard to catchiness, the rest of the album keeps the quality coming thick and fast. Even the inevitable syrupy power ballad ‘Alliance’ works well as Dark Side of the Moon’s Melissa Bonny rocks up for a duet and saves it from being too predictable.
Most of the songs are moody, and up-tempo, and even with two instrumental pieces bookending it, it flows remarkably well and so far, this is showing all the signs of being a gem of a find, given that I’ve found myself listening to it again when I should have been reviewing the next opus in our never-ending queue of work. That’s also a sign that this is a palpable hit…
Pyramaze – ‘Fortress’: https://youtu.be/EK5hDNb2icQ
TRACKLISTING:
01. Bloodlines
02. Taking What’s Mine
03. Fortress
04. Broken Arrow
05. Even If You’re Gone
06. Alliance
07. The Midnight Sun
08. Stop the Bleeding
09. The Mystery
10. Wolves of the Sea
LINE-UP:
Terje Harøy — Vocals
Morten Gade Sørensen — Drums
Jacob Hansen — Guitars
Jonah Weingarten — Keyboards
LINKS:
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