Pharaoh - Bury The Light review
| Band: | Pharaoh |
| Album: | Bury The Light |
| Style: | Heavy metal, US power metal |
| Release date: | February 24, 2012 |
| A review by: | Doc G. |
01. Leave Me Here To Dream
02. The Wolves
03. Castles In The Sky
04. The Year Of The Blizzard
05. The Spider's Thread
06. Cry
07. Graveyard Of Empires
08. Burn With Me
09. In Your Hands
10. The Spider's Thread (Reprise)
11. Ten Years [Special edition bonus]
12. When We Fly
13. White Light [New Model Army cover]
14. Reflection And The Inevitable Future
15. Nothing I Can Say
16. Tormentor [Slayer cover]
The riffs are good, the structure is smoothly digestible, and the vocals aren't horrendous. Bury The Light is a really well put together album. There's just something incredibly unmoving about it...
Well, fuck it, don't let that deter you. Pharaoh have put out a pretty decent album with Bury The Light. It's a top-speed classic American heavy metal/power metal hybrid sound, very traditional. Definitely an Iron Maiden meets Iced Earth appeal going on here. It's solidly built from the ground up. At its most intense, there's even a few rhythm sections that bring in mind more furious thrash along the lines of Skeletonwitch, while the solos (although occasionally too abundant) are well placed, soaring melodic air-guitar worthy pieces. Tie everything together with some 'Maiden-esque chorus', and you've got yourself one solid heavy metal album.
Nothing goes wrong, yet nothing really slays. This is, at its core, a traditional heavy metal album. Pharaoh is a well-oiled machine that does everything by the book. With an album like Bury The Light, unless in the proper mood, is something which is easy to be satisfied by, but hard to be blown away by. This another one one of those albums that fills that gap between "crap" and "awesome". Those with an insatiable lust for high energy traditional heavy metal with tons of great guitar solos around every corner will certainly find something great here. Anyone else, on the other hand, can expect another pretty predictable heavy metal album.
Pharaoh offer enough moments on Bury The Light to make it a worthwhile listen, but suffer from a severe lack of flavour. Definitely give it a shot, but don't expect a masterpiece, here.
Comments
Comments: 13
Visited by: 193 users
| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Doc, y u no drool over Pharaoh like the rest of us?  I guess we have an insatiable lust for high energy trad metal 
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099  |
Severe lack of flavour? Blasphemy! This is like downing a bag full of toffees. One of the rare power metal bands these days with any flavour. Or maybe your right and I just like toffee too much. 
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2574  |
Ok, so it's legal not to worship this album. Interesting view of this album. I have not listened to it yet, but I will keep in mind the details you mentioned when listening to this one.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| strade Posts: 677  |
Written by Milena on 12.03.2012 at 10:52 I too, of course, greatly disagree with the review. To each his own, I guess.
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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| scaesura Posts: 174 |
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| Hammer34 Posts: 14 |
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| scaesura Posts: 174 |
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| Hammer34 Posts: 14 |
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Hammer34 on 12.03.2012 at 18:43 Interesting, one of the reasons why I liked this so much IS Tim Aymar. I find his vocal style to be a better fit for this music than for Control Denied.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| TrollandDie Posts: 274  |
Written by Hammer34 on 12.03.2012 at 18:43 Genuinely I feel that these vocals are a great fit for the band. They have a certain abrasive strain to which it feels Tim places a lot of actual effort from his part. A lot of power metal vocalists use a monotonish and often really synthetic sound that makes the music feel bland and dull to say the least. This band has the power metal elements so I'd see where more melodic/harmonic vocalists would be a bigger asset. Yet, they also play with a thrashy and personalised sound which makes the music, with a lack of a better word on-hand, seem more ''real''. I think Tim allows for some dynamic changes as well and I can't really seem to think of another vocalist out there (maybe Barlow) that could have enhanced this listening experience.
---- Hello, my name is Mr......Snrub and I think it would be a capital idea to invest the money back in the nuclear plant.
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| strade Posts: 677 |
Written by [user id=101272] on 12.03.2012 at 20:53 HAHAHA no. Not even close. This band has no where near the amount of fans or rabid support and will mostly go ignored by those not strictly into the genre or in the know. US power metal is no where near as revered as the Euro variety anyway, which is complete and utter bullshit.
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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