Danish power/prog metal act Pyramaze are back with their seventh studio album, Bloodlines, out now on AFM Records. In the past, the band has been just as notable for who was their lead singer at the moment as the music they produced, with Urban Breed, Lance King, and Matt Barlow all manning the microphone at one point or another for the band, but since 2015 Terje Haroy has been the voice of Pyramaze, and Bloodlines is now his fourth album with the band. Joining him here are keyboard player Jonah Weingarten, guitarist/producer, and former Anubis Gate member Jacob Hansen (who also fills in on bass on this album), and drummer Morten Gade Sørensen.
Bloodlines is more of what you would expect from Pyramaze, chock full of soaring vocal hooks, a wealth of keyboards, and just enough guitar riff-o-rama and blazing solos to satisfy those that fall into both the power and the progressive metal camps. "Broken Arrow" is absolutely riveting, one of the catchiest songs you'll hear in this genre here in 2023, and other tracks like "Fortress", "Taking What's Mine", "Stop the Bleeding', and the Evergrey-meets-Alter Bridge stomp of "Even If You're Gone" are can't miss songs that stick in your head immediately. On the downside, "Alliance", a ballad featuring Ad Infinitum’s Melissa Bonny in a duet with Haroy, while being somewhat 'nice', sounds a bit forced, and there are a couple of other tracks that lack a bit of punch and seem to be trying too hard for the hook. Some might also grumble that the album is bookended by two instrumentals totaling about 7-minutes, when another full-fledged song might have worked better...for my money, the instrumentals are nicely done and quite cinematic sounding, but yeah, another kick-ass metal piece would have been appreciated. All told though, Bloodlines is a pretty catchy and engaging album from Pyramaze, who continue to fine-tune their sound into something that is ultimately very accessible to a potentially wider audience.
Track Listing
1. Bloodlines 02:07 instrumental
2. Taking What's Mine 03:58
3. Fortress 04:56
4. Broken Arrow 04:20
5. Even If You're Gone 05:08
6. Alliance 04:13
7. The Midnight Sun 05:10
8. Stop the Bleeding 04:51
9. The Mystery 05:30
10. Wolves of the Sea 04:00 instrumental
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