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Pyramaze: Bloodlines
Pyramaze - Bloodlines Album Art

Pyramaze: Bloodlines

Progressive Power Metal
4.5/5.0

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AFM Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 23.06.2023 | Released: 23.06.2023

Entering their third decade of music, Denmark's Pyramaze returns with their seventh studio album, Bloodlines. The band's career had an ambitious start with three albums over five years between 2004 and 2008. Difficulties arose with multiple vocalist changes. Pyramaze would return in 2015 with Disciples Of The Sun and new vocalist Terje Haroy, who remains with the band to this day. Bloodlines will be his fourth album with the band.

Pyramaze Click For Larger Image

Pyramaze

To recap, Pyramaze offers metal fans progressive power metal. At the core of their song compositions are song melody often led by keyboardist Jonah Weingarten's piano lines, power metal heaviness and pacing, dense embellishment and atmosphere (again from Weingarten), underlining groove, self-evident vocal harmony, and sufficient guitar solos. Haroy sings melodic and clean, yet with some assertiveness. He definitely has his work cut out when competing with dense and epic nature of the song arrangements.


Considering the album as a whole, it's sufficient to say that if you like anything Pyramaze had done in the past (or simply enjoy progressive power metal), you will not be disappointed in the least with Bloodlines. Weingarten has described the album this way: "For me, the new songs are a successful mix of the material from Epitaph and Disciples Of The Sun while also featuring cross-references to our very first releases and surprising with a number of unusual song structures." Well said.

Yet, for some song highlights, as usual, I was entertained by songs where the piano lines rose a little stronger like Stop The Bleeding, The Mystery, the opening instrumental Bloodlines, and Alliance. That last song features Haroy in duet with Ad Infinitum/The Dark Side Of The Moon vocalist Melissa Bonny. It's more mellow character gives clarity to Haroy's voice. Another songs of interest include The Mystery which features guest guitarists Andrew Kingsley (Unleash The Archers) and Olof Morck (Amaranthe). Two songs put the "power" into progressive power metal: Taking What's Mine and The Midnight Sun which offers a guitar solo from Tim Hansen son of Kai Hansen (Helloween, Gamma Ray).

All said, Pyramaze's latest studio album, Bloodlines, finds the band in excellent form, delivering their brand of intriguing, mature, and entertaining progressive power meta. If you're dig the band or love the genre, you will definitely enjoy this album. Recommended.



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The Take Away

Pyramaze's latest studio album, Bloodlines, finds the band in excellent form, delivering their brand of intriguing, mature, and entertaining progressive power meta. If you're dig the band or love the genre, you will definitely enjoy this album. Recommended.

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