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Pyramaze - Legend Of The Bone Carver (2006)
Denmark’s Pyramaze are back on the metal scene with an incredible album called “Legend Of The Bone Carver”, the follow up to 2004 “Melancholy Beast”. The question is: Does it fill the expectations?, well… we must say it surpass them by far. By far, Legend Of the Bone Carver is one of the best power metal releases of 2006. With this album, the band seems to have placed the last brick into their own style to establish themselves as a metal band that’s here to stay.
The sound of Legend Of The Bone Carver is a mixture of powerful epic sound, aggressive and very melodic guitar riffs, keyboards, drums and bass that combined together creates a metal jewel. Legend Of The Bone Carver is a concept album with some very strong lyrics. It’s an epic story about the balance of good and evil and the legend of “The One” destined for a greater glory… we must say no more, because you have to listen for yourself to discover the story and it’s meaning. Every song takes you deep into the story line. In my opinion, this one is destined to become a metal classic.
The album opens with a narrating voice, preparing you to what yet has to come, the first time I listened to the album I thought I was embarking into Lord Of The Rings or some type of fantasy movie… “Era Of Chaos” a mellow melodic theme prepares you to “The Birth”, the second song of the album that starts with a great slow guitar lead intro. The Birth is a power slow tempo song that will take you to “What Lies Beyond”, song number three, and wait till you hear “Ancient Words Within”. Jonah Weingarten keyboards creates a climax on every song of the album, every note fits perfect with every guitar riff, any bass line and drums, it is almost as if you were listening to a movie score theme. He manages to create an orchestral ambience on the album.
What about the guitars, well…. Prepare yourself to be knocked off your feet, because they simply outdid themselves this time. Michael Kammeyer and Toke Skjønnemand delivered great melodic guitar riff’s and solos, you can hear great leads, very fast melodic solos, not just the average ultra fast shredding without any meaning, they also did a good job with the rhythms guitars. To understand what I’m saying, just listen to “Souls In Pain”, a song that starts with a dramatic intro, one of my favorites.
“She Who Summoned Me”… for me, is the highlight of the album, this song is a beautiful ballad, that starts with a slow piano intro, you can hear Lance King vocals at it’s best on this song, there’s also a guest female singer, Christina Øberg, that gives great intensity to the song, and just when you thought you heard everything, then comes an amazing soulful guitar solo!. For me, this is one of the best solos I ever heard in a ballad song, with a couple of emotionally brilliant played notes, Pyramaze are able to communicate a unique feeling. I will dare to compare this solo with one of my favorites, that includes David Gilmour’s solo on Comfortably Numb, Kirk Hammett solo on Fade to black and Eric Clapton’s Layla solo.
Overall, Legend Of The Bone Carver is a great album; concept albums are always hard to make, the background story has to be strong and every song must fit in the right place or else, the whole thing will not make sense, and in this case, Pyramaze did the right thing. The story fits perfectly with every song and most important, they were able to tell the story right with the right combination of music. Certainly, this will make a classic metal album, a must have!.
Legend Of The Bone Carver – 2006
Track list:
01. Era Of Chaos
02. The Birth
03. What Lies Beyond
04. Ancient Words Within
05. Souls In Pain
06. She Who Summoned Me
07. The Bone Carver
08. Bring Back Life
09. Blood Red Skies
10. Tears Of Hate
11. Flame And Retribution (bonus track Japan)
Line-up:
Michael Kammeyer - guitars
Lance King - vocals
Jonah Weingarten - keyboards
Morten Gade Sørensen - drums
Niels Kvist - bass
Toke Skjønnemand - guitars
Guest musicians:
Christina Øberg - female vocals on "She Who Summoned Me" & "Blood Red Skies"
Tomy King - childs voice on "What Lies Beyond"
Don’t forget to visit Pyramaze official website at:
Tuno Martínez