More solid heavy metal from Pharaoh
Cruz Del Sur Records seems to have a gift for digging up the best in traditional metal obscurities. Bands like Hammers of Misfortune, Bible of the Devil, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Antiquus, and Pharaoh all bring to mind classics (Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc) without being blatantly derivative or conforming to modern power metal trends. Nearly every time I play a Cruz Del Sur release I'm treated to an onslaught of melodic riffs, warm guitar tones, and catchy and powerful singing.
Pharaoh fit this mold perfectly. After their mediocre debut, they upped the quality and shaped the Iron Maiden-isms into a sound of their own for The Longest Night and it's follow-up Be Gone. Guitarist Matt Johnsen and bassist Chris Kerns keep the music moving forward with riffs that find a good balance between melody, intricate musicianship, and creativity. They're not re-inventing the wheel, but I can't help but admire the inspiration shown in the offbeat rhythm during the verse of "Dark New Life" and the repetitive rhythm of the title track. The album's main weakness comes with Tim Aymar's vocals (who has some fame in the metal world for singing on Chuck Schuldiner's project Control Denied). He's far from a bad singer, but he's in the habit of recording his voice to sound like a choir of Tims singing through the majority of Be Gone. This layering can be effective if used sparingly, but when it's overused it weakens the strength of his melodies and I start to wonder "what does his voice actually sound like?" It's a minor complaint though, because sadly the technique has become common in modern metal. And all the other elements of Be Gone are executed well.
To make an analogy, Pharaoh are like a ripe banana: you probably already know what a banana tastes like (and what heavy metal sounds like), but a ripe one is damn tasty. And if you don't like bananas, it's unlikely that Pharaoh will win you over. Pharaoh do the heavy metal thing, and they do it well, but neither their originality or their quality is shocking.
| Reviewer: Jeff Mcquiggan Added: April 6th 2008 |
|
