Pyramids - Pyramids

Pyramids
Pyramids
(05.2008, Hydra Head)
Verdict = Blast beats - not just for black metal anymore

That’s right, read the verdict, Pyramids are breaking down the gloomy, devilish, grizzled, blast beat infected walls of black metal (or anything that can be called metal for that matter) and reconstructing it into a completely new beast. On their debut, self titled album Pyramids have all but created a new sub-genre of, well, lets just start out at black metal and deconstruct from there. On their debut, Pyramids mostly lose (or bury) the growling vocal tradition of most black or doom metal, up the ethereal guitar reverb, retain the blast beat pummelling and miniturize song lengths to pop sizes. The remaining concoction is hard to label. Power ambience? White metal? …er, synthesized awesomeness? I think the last label there might be the least debatable (if you allow ‘synthesized’ to be translated loosely) and most applicable. Whatever way you choose to view/describe it, Pyramids' musical hybrid is intensely inventive and consistently satisfying. Walls and walls and walls of sound neatly packaged and presented in all their gorgeous doomy glory. And the “noise” produced here comes in polished mission statements rather than disjointed cacophonies. It is an oddly successful teaming of some seemingly disparate parts. Oh, and as an added bonus the album is coupled with an entire disc of remixes from plenty of FG faves (Birchville Cat Motel, Jesu, James Plotkin). Rehashing and extending the songs in various ways, the remixes almost deserve to stand on their own as an equally devastating document. Really, this ain’t your average album of throw away remixes – the bonus disc stands up with lauded classics like Morr Music’s Mum reworkings on Please Smile My Noise Bleed. Together, the double disc-er is a serious statement for Pyramids, inferring that there are still great things yet to come for a band that is already making plenty of waves.

-Mr. Thistle

Pyramids on Myspace