Immortal

A great cheer went up in the metal world when it was announced in mid April of 2007 that beloved vocalist Matt Barlow would be returning to the metal scene after a four year absence, spending those years working for the Department of Homeland Security and then a Georgetown police officer. Barlow would not return to the flock at Iced Earth, however, until December of 2007. Barlow would begin his exciting return to metal with another band, Pyramaze, a Danish power metal group.

With previous vocalist Lance King (ex Balance of Power) leaving Pyramaze in November 2006, the band’s guitarist and song-writer Michael Kammeyer spent the months of November ’07 to April ’08 trying to recruit the legendary vocalist...and it obviously worked.

Pyramaze was forever put on the metal map with their third album, entitled ‘Immortal’, released in May of 2008. The album was then massively sought after as news spread of Matt Barlow’s association with the band. Pyramaze’s previous two albums (‘Melancholy Beast’ and ‘Legend of the Bone Carver’) were quite solid; so with the inclusion of the great Matt Barlow, ‘Immortal’ would indeed be a top metal release of 2008.

With Pyramaze sounding very much like Iced Earth and Demons & Wizards, especially with the aggressive pounding and powerful guitar work of Michael Kammeyer and Toke Skjonnemand; Matt Barlow feels right at home singing for this power metal band. Without skipping a beat, the gruff, melodic and emotional vocals of Barlow return to our ears with all its glory and sensationalism.

There is a fair amount of variety to be found on ‘Immortal’, whether it be tracks with a dose of speed and aggression, or the mid-paced, epic sounding numbers which thunder along like an army advancing towards their enemy. The keyboards may have been toned down a little from Pyramaze’s previous albums, but on ‘Immortal’ they add a deeper element to each track; giving it more life and harmony. A prime example of the great use of Jonah Weingarten’s keys would be on the hauntingly beautiful ballad “Legacy in a Rhyme”. With the added piano, the ballad is brilliant and sung exceptionally well by Barlow.

Other tracks which stood out in this album include the impressive and heavy “A Beautiful Death”, the vivacious and edgy “Caramon’s Poem”, the melodic opening track (after the intro) “Year of the Phoenix”, the glorious 6 minute epic “Ghost Light” and the wonderful and uplifting “The Highland”.

Whether Pyramaze is more well known now because of Matt Barlow matters not, as the vocals is just one part of many when making a great album. Credit must also be given to the great song-writing and near perfect delivery of the music. ‘Immortal’ is definitely a great power metal album and Pyramaze’s new found success should carry them with their new vocalist Urban Breed (Tad Morose, Bloodbound) into their 4th full-length album.

With Iced Earth’s ‘The Crucible of Man’ being a slight letdown, those metal fans and power metal fans alike needing more of a Matt Barlow influx should check out ‘Immortal’ as you shall not be disappointed and you may just find yourself adding a talented up and coming power metal band to your list of favourites. For the Lance King era fans of Pyramaze, this may be different to what you are used to, but still should ultimately be in favour of the band’s exceptional efforts on this album.

Originally written for www.themetalforge.com

Change isn’t always a bad thing, but when it comes on the heels of one of the better power metal albums of the past several years, it will not likely yield a superior product. In Pyramaze’s case, the change is a two-fold one, the more obvious one being the loss of charismatic and mostly orthodox 80s vocalist Lance King, while there is a subtle divergence stylistically that accompanies it. The former eventuality was entirely out of the band’s control, but the rather auspicious ability of Michael Kammeyer in advocating for the metal craft yielded the return of retired Iced Earth impresario Matt Barlow is, and has brought with it a very different beast, particularly one that isn’t quite as conducive of a fantastical concept album.

“Immortal” is a departure in many respects, not so much of style or even overall spirit, but of attitude. The brunt of Barlow’s massive bellows present an aesthetic that is much more suited for a more aggressive, thrashing style, and the songwriting on here naturally follows suit. A number of riffs that filter in and out of the prototypical verse sections have that characteristically heavy galloping chug that is often associated with Jon Schaeffer’s handiwork, particularly that of “Something This Way Comes”. There is still a strong remnant of atmosphere and time change work painting this album with a progressive edge, along with the occasional keyboard solo, but the rhythm work is much heavier and agitated, and the tempo and feel of the album is much faster.

The band is working with a fairly limited idea set, which coupled with the stricter demands of a thrash-oriented riff collection, make for an album that is not quite as varied. Barlow’s vocal presentation compensates for this to a large extent by calling upon his broad range of vocal characters and massive range, trading ground shaking growls and glass shattering shrieks during the heavy sections of songs such as “Shadow Of The Beast” and “Touched By The Mara” with a lighter and sincere baritone during acoustic sections contained within the same songs, again bringing up a likely intentional parallel with Iced Earth. But there is a little bit of varied exploration here in the atmospheric intro and closing instrumentals, which make greater use of the guitars, as well as a much welcome exploration into folksy territory on “The Highland”, containing the most memorable chorus on the album.

Although this is inferior to the two previous albums in overall delivery, its quality shouldn’t be downplayed in light of the greatness of its predecessor. It is a fine album that will likely appeal heavily to fans of Iced Earth and Demons And Wizards, and still be able to keep the ears that were first enthralled by “Legend Of The Bone Carver”. Straight up grooving anthems like “A Beautiful Death” and “Caramon’s Poem” will likely appeal the most to the former crowd as they maintain most of the older aesthetic, while most of the rest of the album leans more to the aggressive side. This is a band to continue watching as they seem to have an uncanny knack at roping in good vocalists, given the recent entry of Tad Morose ex-vocalist Urban Breed into the Pyramaze family as Barlow’s replacement.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on January 20, 2011.

Pyramaze is a progressive band that lost a good singer in Lance King. They needed a replacement to create this album, “Immortal.” Well, they found a damn good one in Matt Barlow, arguably one of the best singers in the metal community. This was a momentous decision by the band; they were instantly recognized for bagging the ex-Iced Earth front man. How good is the band’s third full-length effort?

Well, lyrically it’s not as creative as “Legend of the Bone Carver,” but it still works well. They come to life with the amazing vocals from Matt Barlow, which are indescribably good. He does fantastic throughout the entire album. Not to be outdone, the rest of this band steps up as well. Jonah Weingarten is a good keyboardist, and he’s got his own solo act in the song “Legacy in Rhyme.” The keyboards themselves aren’t overblown here and they sound just right in the right amount. Which is good, because many fans like me are getting tired of power bands using keyboards too much. (*cough* Sonata Arctica *cough*) The guitar players Michael Kammeyer and Toke Skjonnemand do a nice job here. Sure, none of the solos are truly fantastic, but I still enjoyed there playing. Niels Kvist is the bass player, and I like the way he approaches playing. Morten Gade Sorenson is a highlight here; I love the drums on this album. Solid and well performed, I’m sure all of you will enjoy it as much as I have. The lineup is solid, it always has been.

The album begins with the intro, which is like any other intro to any other album. Then, “Year of the Phoenix” comes along and you soon realize how good this will be. Barlow’s opening scream is goose bump starting. The chorus is catchy, which is a constant positive point. “Ghost Light” is a fun track about, well a ghost light. Go figure. I particularly like the playing from Kammeryer and Skjonnemand here; it’s my favorite riff off the album. I must also say, this is the only album I own where my favorite song off the record is a ballad. “Legacy in Rhyme” is the best ballad I’ve ever heard.It’s only the piano and Matt Barlow. His vocals are astounding, I can’t say it enough. Oddly enough, this is my favorite here. “Shadow of the Beast” is the last real song on here, and it’s a bombshell. The chorus is epic (I can’t believe I just said that fucking stupid word, but it applies here) and catchy… very.

The production is very clear and clean, which is always great, and the artwork is beautiful. The one main problem here is the lyrics, they’re not the greatest, and if you’re looking for an original story you won’t find it. Like I say though, nothing’s original anymore, so I don’t really consider that to be a negative. All the songs here are either good, or great. None of them are boring or misguided. If you’re looking for a solid metal album, pick this up. If you’re a fan of Iced Earth, you’ll love it. Being a Pyramaze fan just became much easier.

Power metal has probably been the most debated out of all legitimate metal genres so far.Some love it for its epic tunes and soaring vocals whereas others hate it for precisely that reason, calling it generic and rehashed. The lyrics associated with power metal also add to this debate, with all the stories of noble knights and impossible victories.

In this respect, Pyramaze had managed to tread a 'middle path'.Sure,the nasal high pitched vocals were there,so were the fast riffs.But there was also a very heavy and powerful overall sound to it.As far as the lyrics are concerned, the 1st album 'Melancholy Beast' was more emotion related whereas the 2nd album 'Legend of the Bone Carver' spoke about a fantastical story. On their 3rd offering however, Pyramaze have decided to turn to the generic as far as the lyrics are concerned. Now its all about fighting side by side, legends springing to life and ghostly lights.

The album opens with the instrumental intro 'Arise', a very epic and soulful piece that turns right over into the barrage of riffs in the next song 'Year of the Phoenix'. Now here comes the biggest surprise for the uninitiated; if you're preparing to groan because of the nasal high-pitched vocals,you will be pleasantly surprised by the change, and a very familiar change at that. Say hello to Matt Barlow from Iced Earth. His totally unconventional style of baritonal power metal singing keeps you hooked to the song,as do the riffs. But then as the song moves forward one notices that the songwriting formula has now changed for Pyramaze. One starts missing the melodies and notices that its more low end riff-oriented music now. But that is only for someone who prefers a balance between the two. The melodies are still there though, keyboard and all.

Which brings me to the next song, 'Ghost Light', a song that perfectly uses the low end staccato+ keyboard harmonic formula in the intro. But alas, the verse riff again ends up as a series of chugs.But donot despair as yet because the album really takes off from the next song 'Touched By The Mara' which has signs of the age old Iced Earth method which is heavy electric sections interspersed with acoustic melodies. After that, 'A Beautiful Death' has lyrics that play images from the movie '300' in one's head and are a bit reminiscent of Swedish 'Vikings' Amon Amarth's heroic lyrical (and musical) style.

Now don't start missing the mandatory ballad as yet because the next song 'Legacy In A Rhyme' is one beauty of a potential tear jerker, where we also get to hear Matt Barlow's pipes. The rest of the album continues in a wonderful way and then it all finally dies down note-by-note on the outro 'March Through An Endless Rain' .

Alas, Matt Barlow is not here to stay as his full time job is now being back with legends Iced Earth. I just hope the new vocalist 'Urban Breed' (a name that sounds dangerously as one that a 'gangsta rapper' would use) is good enough.Overall, the inference is that Pyramaze are now moving in a different, more Iced Earth-inspired style, something I'm sure fans of the latter will embrace but then again, as is the case with power metal, something that others will dislike as well.

I don't get Pyramaze. There isn't, or rather, shouldn't be, much wrong with them now that Lance King, he of the nasally whine, is gone, and they have all the elements of a competent Power/Prog outfit - riffs, time changes, segues between heavy and softer parts, keyboards in the background, etc etc etc - but I don't like them. Something about their blend of heavy riffs and melodic keyboards has never clicked with me, always coming off as somewhat awkward and disjointed. They have Matt Barlow's deep, charismatic pipes behind the mic now, and that should be a huge plus, but sadly, Immortal just isn't good at all.

The biggest thing that I can pinpoint as being really wrong with this band as a whole, which I finally realized after my negative review of their last album, is that they're just boring and unambitious. It's as if the elements of a metal album were transferred onto a piece of white scrap paper with GROCERY LIST at the top of it, and Pyramaze scrolled down the list and checked off every one, making damn sure they had all of it down pat before writing this album. This is so bland and vanilla and generic that the best thing one can say about it is that it is a metal album, and that isn't a good sign at all.

However, it isn't like the music on here redeems that fact anyway - Immortal has no real bad songs, but it does have a whole collection of tracks that plod on for four or five minutes in a monotonous groove without hooks or any real form of speed or anything that would make the music otherwise exciting. How is it even possible to make Heavy Metal like this? The riffs are boring and repetitive. There's no attitude here, either, and that is the real crime here. What happened to the days when metal was all about attitude, when bands lived by the riff and belted their heart out on every fucking note? Why is this band so afraid to speed up and bellow and really kick your ass? I'll never know, but I think I'm just about done with this lame, lame band for good.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

It's a tough life being a power metal band – you get your case taken by everybody except hardcore genre fans, and people just naturally assume that you're all D&D nerds who picked up guitars by mistake, mistaking them for high-level wands. You're missing even the kvlt quotient of the oft-ridiculed black metallers. And you can't really lash back with something like Get in the Ring because that'd be way out of character; the best retort you can hope for is a feelgood anthem with lines like “Don't let them bring you down! Just be true to who you are!” Tough cookie, alright.


Anyway, power metal's not normally a genre that lends itself to much experimentation (because if any band tries, then they're bumped off into power-prog), so the simplest way to find the main variation between bands would be asking “Are you fast or 'Sonic the Hedgehog running down an oil-slick mountain of ice' fast?”


Now, Pyramaze has been a band that's exercised a healthy restraint on speed and left room to breathe in past efforts, and they get extra kudos for being one of the few bands in the genre who know how to judiciously use keyboards and abstain from putting piddlywiddly wankery up front and center. With this new one, things are no different, except they have a monster crowd-puller in the form of Matt Barlow. Barlow, as many of you might already know, quit singing for Iced Earth some years ago and joined the police force in Delaware so he could make a difference. Presumably after booking his umpteenth speed limit offender, he realised the incongruity of his skillset and his new profession (as well as the irony of fining people who went too fast), and announced his return to metalmongering ways. Since then, Jon Schaffer has successfully snared him as full-time frontman for Iced Earth once more, but not before he cut this one complete album with Pyramaze.


Barlow's the kind of guy who can singlehandedly push your band to another level; his range, power and character of delivery are legendary. Pyramaze, who were previously a competent band perfectly capable of getting some well-written and orchestrated songs out, now have this added bite and roar, which they're sadly going to miss in their Barlow-less future. All the typical power metal anthems and the solitary ballad that this album is packed with are automatically lent an incisive drive and conviction. While they don't push any boundaries, they're packing skill, tactful songwriting and some pretty decent orchestration, and they go about using it the best they can. It'll be interesting to see how Schaffer uses Barlow, but he had better get his act together, otherwise it'd have been quite a waste to break up a solid pairing like this one.


http://kvltsite.com

After seven long years, Matthew Barlow returns to the metal scene and joins Pyramaze. I knew he would come back and here is my take.

Pyramaze returns for their third full length album, "Immortal" and have done some wonders. After a decent intro, all the metal begins. With "Year Of The Phoenix", the listener is welcomed to some heavy riffage and to an all to familiar sound. Right away Barlow shows that any rumors of rust are all clearly exaggerated. From seven years ago in "Horror Show" his vocals are still pushing strong if not even better! The power is back. He seems to have regained his passion for music!

The riffing is however a lot like old school Iced Earth riffing to the identical sound, not that I am complaining at all. It's damn heavy. There is a lot of total atmosphere here and excellent backing vocals to boot. There are some syths here, but are not truly overused and some truly awesome leads, a good example is the tune "Ghost Light".

The tune "Legacy In a Rime" is a total ballad with some fine piano interludes. Barlow still knows how to show some terrific emotion to the music like the sadness he showed in Iced Earth's "Pierced Spirit". The production is well done and everything came out clean.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. A welcome return to the metal fold for Barlow indeed! I guess the only drawback would be that this could be indeed Barlow's first and last effort with Pyramaze. I am glad he is back with Iced Earth, but he fit so well here. Pyramaze should be proud as composers and metallers. With the title of the album, "Immortal", this release right here is well named. True metal will never die! One of the years best!

Best tracks: All. Even the intro and outro.

A few days ago, a high quality promo release leaked onto the net and I was so impressed by this album that it provoked me to register at metal-archives and write my first review. I now know for sure that I'll be a first day buyer.

Ah yes, the mighty Matt Barlow has finally made his long overdue return to the metal scene and has unleashed an astonishing vocal performance on his first of two upcoming albums. One would think Matt's vocals could've deteriorated over the long 7 years since Iced Earth's "Horror Show", but he sounds just as good, or if you can believe it, even better than he has in the past.

Onto the album itself now. After a brief intro, the epic "Year of the Phoenix" storms out of the speakers with it's gigantic choruses and heavy riffage. This song along with "Caramon's Poem" were made available by the band for sampling and they're probably the "catchiest" tunes out of the bunch, at least after the first few listens.

The album continues onward with "Ghost Light", a lengthier, more progressive number which is followed by the awesome semi-ballad "Touched by the Mara". "A Beautiful Death" is a more of a straight-forward track and "Legacy in a Rhyme" is a keyboard-based ballad, which showcases Barlow's killer pipes.

Besides the outro, we're left with "The Highland" and "Shadow of the Beast", which both deliver more of the same keyboard enhanced prog-power goodness. The keyboards and mellower nature of Pyramaze's music really seem to mesh well with Barlow's singing style and allow him to explore new territory with his voice that haven't been previous heard in Iced Earth.

So where does the 5% come off out of my score? Well first off, the album is a little on the short side. I would've loved to hear a good 8 minute plus album-ending epic, something I know this band is more than capable of. Not including the intro/outro, we're only left with 8 songs and just over 40 minutes of music, which sucks in a way due to the fact that Barlow is departing this band to perform in Iced Earth Full time, meaning we probably won't hear any more new material from Pyramaze with Matt on vocals. Also, I sometimes think I'm hearing "Legend Of The Bone Carver" playing only with Barlow singing instead of Lance King, although for me, this really isn't a bad thing seeing as I love that album too!

These are all just minor qualms though, and this album is already a candidate for my album of the year (maybe Iced Earth or fellow prog metaler's Communic will have something to say about that). I know one things for sure, Mr. Jon Shaffer certainly has some large shoes to fill if he wants Iced Earth's next album to be as good as this one.