Pyramaze
Contingent

A decade ago a new album by Pyramaze would have excited me as much as a broken leg or a heart attach. Things change though and in 2015 they did release a real kicker of an album and now they are back again with a piece of music that I was rather excited about. At least before hearing it. This is an album with a futuristic post-apocalyptic theme and with a relatively attractive cover artwork and probably even more attractive music. Their fifth album certainly delivers on the promise we got last time around and those who liked Disciples of the Sun will most certainly like this one as well as it is similar in style and probably a small step forward.

Power metal with progressive tones and a slightly cinematic theme is what we get to hear when we listen to this album, it can be described as similar to bands like Eldritch and Anubis Gate. Great production and strong vocals is what they offer with this new album, and the album shows strong variation as well and I most like the more energetic parts that show very good energy and power. I think the variation is best showcased by the fact that the playing time of near one hour feels agreeable which is usually not the case with albums that are so long.

I think that we can conclude that Pyramaze have found a very interesting and fairly personal style that they have presented on the last two albums. Their music feels modern, fairly fresh and very good. They offer strong songs and catchiness that is sometimes infectious; Contingent is certainly a very good album that showcases a great band’s capabilities. I can surely recommend this album to anyone into quality music, and point out that they certainly live up to any expectations I had before taking the album on. And if it was a major surprise last time around, this is probably as good as expected.

And while I don’t want to pick a favourite song on this album, as they are all very good, I still want to mention the opening track Land of Information that I think is one of the better opening tracks I have heard in quite a while. In the end though I don’t think that much more is needed to be written about this great album that I more see as a step on the road for them rather than a magnum opus. Nevertheless, it is their best album yet.

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