When I first went to
Roadburn festival in 2011 I was in waaaay over my head with my bands-I-know to bands-I've-never-heard-of ratio. I'm not saying I didn't have a wicked time (I went again the year after) but I spent a lot of time high, watching shit I'd never even heard of. Black Pyramid was one of those bands, whom I espied briefly through the packed doors of the second stage in Tilburg's 013 venue. When I came home I wrapped my lugholes around this album, which by some strange coincidence turned out to be bloody fantastic.
Black Pyramid are a good bunch, aye. They seem to mix driving, monumental rock in the vein of Mastadon with the slower, crunchy doom metal vibe. The result is a unique but refined sound that is somehow both all-go and stoned as fuck. The music isn't exactly challenging, but Black Pyramid present a take on the metal template which I enjoy very much. Guitar widdly-widdly-ness is present, but often in small, manageable chunks or catchy-as-fook hooks, like at the end of "Visions Of Gehenna". My favourite tunes here are the pacy "Twilight Grave", the stoned "Worm Ouroboros" and the epic as fuck closing track, "Wintermute".
The band do have other material but in my opinion none of it tops this shit. Check out "Wintermute" below - a seething masterpiece that takes a few minutes to kick in, but stick with it!
PS - I found out whilst writing this review that Black Pyramid are no more - gutted!
