Pyramaze is a new acquaintance to me, so I was curious to find out what they'll sound like... and I must admit that they've surpassed my expectations. Their music is melodic power metal with a progressive edge. Their style is a blend of Iced Earth, Kamelot, Queensrÿche and Gamma Ray (to name a few of the similar well-known bands). But to give you even better definition of their music, I must admit that they sound almost like Balance of Power (must be the singer). Similarity to Gamma Ray is very exiguous, it's most noticeable in the first song 'Sleepy Hollow'. On the other hand, the similarity to Queensrÿche can be noticed in the beginning of the fourth song 'The Journey'.

Originally the plan was that Michael would sing on this album, but the guys at Intromental thought it would be wiser to find a really fantastic pro-singer. As a result, the singer in Pyramaze is Lance King, known from many great power & progressive metal bands such as Balance of Power, Mattson, King's Machine and Gemini. So it's no surprise why Pyramaze sounds so good. Lance King isn't known of 'growling', but on this album he has few occasional 'growls'. I must say that his 'growls' are fitting, and actually they're mandatory to the concept of the album (Melancholy Beast).

Production on this album has been done well, which isn't suprising considering that the album was produced by the well-known producer Jacob Hansen. Unfortunately there were few mastering errors. For example, in 'The Journey' there's clipping at 3:24. Clipping occurs also in 'Until We Fade Away' at 2:59... I'm not sure if these errors will be in the retail version of the album, as I have the promotional version of the album.

The music is very fluctuating, songs are diverse and Lance King tries vocals of different styles. This is definitely one of the best melodic power metal albums of this year. Although there are many power metal bands, Pyramaze is able to tailor their own style among this over-explored genre — this is a creditable merit. The length of this album is about 50 minutes, which is adequate. I recommend this album to all fans of melodic power metal, you won't be disappointed. This is one of the best debut albums I've ever heard.

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- MAGE (08.07.2004)

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LINE-UP:
King, Lance: Vocals Kammeyer, Michael: Guitars Kvist, Niels: Bass Gade, Morten: Drums Weingarten, Jonah: Keyboard
Producer:	Hansen, Jacob
Mixing by:	Hansen, Jacob
Mastering by:	Hansen, Jacob

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Sleepy Hollow 02. Forsaken Kingdom 03. Melancholy Beast 04. The Journey 05. Until We Fade Away 06. Legend 07. Mighty Abyss 08. The Nature of Triumph 09. Power of Imagination