Band:	Pyramids
Album:	Pyramids
Style:	Ambient, Post-rock, Experimental rock
Release date:	April 22, 2008
A review by:	Lucas

Disc I
01. Sleds
02. Igloo
03. The Echo Of Something Lovely
04. End Resolve
05. Hellmonk
06. This House Is Like Any Other World
07. Hillary
08. Ghost
09. Monks
10. 1, 2, 3

Disc II
01. The Echo Of Something Lovely [Toby Driver/Ted Parsons/Colin Marston Remix version]
02. 1, 2, 3 [James Plotkin Remix version]
03. The Echo Of Something Lovely [Jesu Remix version]
04. Sleds [loveliescrushing Remix version]
05. Ghost [Birchville Cat Motel Remix version]
06. Sleds [Blut Aus Nord Remix version]
07. The Echo Of Something Lovely [James Plotkin Remix version]
08. Sleds [Ted Scarlett Remix version]
09. The Echo Of Something Lovely [lovesliescrushing Remix version]

Pyramids. Wow. Let me start by saying that Pyramids, the debut album of the highly elusive Pyramids, is something spectacular. Wait, err, actually... elusive?... after a quick bit of background research it seems everybody and their mom knew about the band already, except me. Well fuck me sideways, under what rock have I been hiding for god's sake?!

Pyramids exists solely to worship that which is called 'texture' in the world of music. They chose texture as the be-all and end-all and it shows. Pyramids consists of layers upon layers upon layers... you catch my drift. Their aim was to create noise/sound/layers so dense that it becomes soothing, as stated in an interview. And it works. Although I'd say only roughly half of the album is soothing. The other half, not so much. Words that do come to mind are harrowing, paranoid and complete out-of-your-mind insanity. Sounds good, huh?

If you want to get an idea of the music, imagine Blut Aus Nord's The Work Which Transforms God. Hollow it out. Fill the casket with:

- Jesu's drugged-out, fuzzed-out drones,
- unearthly clean vocals, ethereal and completely entranced (reminiscent of a less frightened male version of the vocals on The Angelic Process's Weighing Souls With Sand),
- high-speed drums, alternately blasting and held-back, stagnating, creating a very off-putting and chaotic effect,
- high-pitched shrieks mixed deeply into the mix, often, especially during the first playthroughs, nearly inaudible (reminiscent of Darkspace's III),
- occasional electronic pulses, referencing a mental electrical breakdown,
- everything else you can find that'll heighten the sonic density.

Oh, and don't actually try this at home.

I feel slightly bad for the ridiculous amount of name-dropping I just did, but it gets my point across best. Remember that there's no such thing as a 'song' to be found here, no matter how hard you try. All the elements I described are part of a bigger whole, a massive wall, a drone or layer or, if you will, a sonic texture of formidable heights. It swirls, whirls and rages. They juxtapose beauty with ugliness, which is hardly anything new of course, but the way Pyramids does it certainly is, to my ears at least.

I could go on forever on each individual detail, but I'm not going to. No matter how lame it may sound, I'm going to say it anyway: this is something you have to hear for yourself, cause words will always fall short. Pyramids is an insane record, although it may not present itself as such as first. I can imagine it's very easy to shut yourself off from the record and shrug it off as 'boring' and 'too droney for it's own good', but I dare you to dive in.

Wholeheartedly recommended!

PS: The second discs contains remixes of their songs by various artists/bands, including but not limited to Jesu, James Plotkin (Khanate, Khlyst), Blut Aus Nord and Birchville Cat Motel. I won't reveal too much about this disc, but I'll say some of the remixes are highly interesting, to say the least.