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. 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.

Label: Locomotive Music

Year of release: 2008