Keyboard player and RevelationZ guest writer, Jonah Weingarten had invited me to Jacob Hansen's Studio in Hviding to witness the recording of the new Pyramaze album, "Legend of the Bone Carver". I couldn't pass that up so I jumped on the train to Esbjerg to hook up with Tommy who also invited and being the lucky owner of a car, he was driving us the rest of the way. Ten minutes before I arrived in Esbjerg I got a call from a downbeat Tommy saying that he was on his way to the emergency room because of a football accident... Clumsy bastard... So instead I got on another train and walked a couple of miles around the small city of Hviding before I located the studio, hidden away in the local countryside, and guarded by a couple of fierce looking dogs, who were luckily behind bars this day.
I was greeted by Jonah (Keyboards), Morten (Drummer), Michael (Guitarist/Main songwriter), Toke (Guitarist), Niels (Bass) and Jacob (Producer) and judging from the mood things were going pretty well, even though the guys were tired from partying too much the night before. After the introductions we sat down in the comfy sofas and Jacob started putting on the new Pyramaze songs. Michael told me that these were the rough mixes, meaning that the instruments weren't balanced the right way, some sections needed trimming and no vocals had been recorded yet. So what I tried to concentrate on while listening were the arrangements and trying to imagine the music with vocals on top. Anyway, what follows is my initial impression.
Several things point in the direction of an improvement of the debut. The guitar solos sound very aggressive and in your face. Fiercer than on the debut. Hopefully they will appear that way on the final album too. The music in general seemed more grandiose than on the debut if you can believe that. The music was varied and shifted often between slower and faster parts giving an impression of some very "fat" songs. The heaviness has definitely gained several pounds since the debut. The guitar sound I heard was just excellent. Crunchy and ultra heavy. Touching upon the indivudual tracks, the opener, Birth was ruled by impressive guitar melodies, the yet unnamed Track 4 was very varied and aggressive and Track 7 was the song that needed the most work before it was finished. It had a very happy and slightly silly melody in it which was going to be changed into something else in the finished version. In the yet unnamed Track 3 one of my personal annoyances from the debut reared its head, the harpsichord. I keep my fingers crossed that the final mix has given it the right warmth and balance in the sound this time. Regarding the keyboard sound in general I noticed a very very warm sound to it and in the final mix this could sound amazing. There was also a quite interesting butterfly-like effect in one song which could go both ways.
One of the song titles I got out of the band was "What lies beyond". Good title!
In tune with my impression of the music Michael explained that the band wanted to take the album in a darker and heavier direction, loosing a little of the "happy" mood along the way. He had three more days to work on the rough mixes before sending them to off to the States to Lance King, for him to start recording the vocals. The plan was to have the final mix ready by June and with a lot of luck the album will be ready for sale in September for the ProgPower Festival in USA.
After the listening session we moved into the house next door where the band lived during the studio sessions. I will not even start to go into details about the hallway leading into the kitchen, I don't want to be responsible for anyone puking in their keyboards... In the living room we got a few beers and talked for a while. It was cool meeting Jonah again and I wished I was able to stay there and party all night, but I had to go back home again for various reasons. The guys almost convinced me to go with them to the Nightingale concert later in the evening but I ended up back at the train station where suddenly a lot of questions I forgot to ask about the album started popping into my head.
The day ended up being a 13 hour trip from Aarhus and back again with 3 hours of fun in the middle. But it was worth it. If the finished album holds up to my impressions from the visit then Pyramaze will have a winner on their hands.
For more information on Pyramaze be sure to visit their official
website and for my review of their debut check
this link.
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