Friday 28 February 2020

Psychotic Waltz - Pendragon - Pyramid

This year started fairly slow for me on the CD purchasing front. This mainly because I was spending some weeks abroad and I was waiting for the first album reviewed here. Now two months in the year my first tips of 2020 starting with te letter P.

Psychotic Waltz - The God-Shaped Void
Warning I am a total PW fanboy. They were after all the best live band in the nineties when we saw them play so often. Then in 2010 there was the tour with Nevermore and Symphony X. Silence followed with the announcement of a new album. In 2016 they played in Amersfoort, were amazng and already gave us While the Spiders Spin. Last year's performance at PPE was overruled by vocal and sound issues, while I still loved to see the Waltz back on stage. There is something mystical, magical dark about their music and now there is a new album. I was very curious after a long absence what they would bring on CD. At the same time Heir Apparent and Fifth Angel to name a few showed recently that long absences can result in very strong albums. I only needed one spin (of the spiders) to realize that we have a winner in our hands. It is all there again The moody heavy progmetal that sets its own standard. Favorite song? the whole album. Some more catchy chorusses, some faster bangers, some emotional intro's, some flute. Everything that made me love their music is back, which includes the nice artwork and interesting lyrics. A must buy album and now we wait for their revenge on European stages.

Pendragon - Love Over Fear
Progrock started for me with Marillion and thereafter bands like Pendragon and Pallas, before I would discover prog history. Pendragon first came to us as opener on Marillion's Misplaced Childhood tour. That is when I started to like them a lot and always did. For me Pendragon is build around the guitar and voice of Nick Barrett. Breaking te Spell does hold possibly progrock's most beautiful guitar solo. So again I am a fanboy. Yet I drift a bit away from Progrock and their last album Men Who Climb Mountains was not their best. Maybe because they said goodbye to drummer Scott Higham (also ex Angel Witch) then, who helped making the albums Pure and Passion heavier and in my ears thus better. So what to expect now, with again a new drummer? Calmness it turned out to be. This album is also released as triple with an acoustic and instrumental version. At first hearing I thought I received the acoustic album by mistake as there is no rocking going on. At times the beautiful guitar still weeps around the corner, but I was underwhelmed. Now slowly the album grew on me, but I guess I keep it for Sunday mornings and won't go to de Boerderij next week to see them live again.

Pyramid - Amnesty 
Pyramid is a band that unfortunately manages to stay under many radars. I read about them on Forgotten Scroll, but it was not untill Rune played a song of previous album Gold Tooth on his Progfiles show that I got really into them. Gold Tooth did not come out on CD, so I don't own a copy. Yet when succesor Amnesty was announced on CD I did pre-order through Bandcamp immediately. Why? because this band might be one of the best discoveries over the past years. They play Progmetal of the heavy kind, where somehow amazing technical display is packed in accessible songs that at times remind me of Zero Hour. With two members of Arch Echo and on drums Chris Quirarte (Redemption) the technical mastercraft is explained. This week I got an email stating the album is on bandcamp and before even receiving the CD I am completely sold. Nine songs all around six minutes with closer Instill passing eight minutes this band takes you on a trip that impresses. Are you listening PPE? It is bands like these that make me extremely happy to see one day. Actually they would fit technical as they are on any mainstream Heavy Metal party as well. Go check them out and you might be as blown away is I was after first hearing.

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