PYRAMAZE – Legend Of The Bone Carver

The band Pyramaze is the vision of guitarist and primary songwriter Michael Kammeyer of Denmark, and was formed shortly after the turn of the century. Kammeyer was successful in pulling together some great talent from both Denmark and the USA to round out Pyramaze, topped off by landing one of the best vocalists in modern day Metal – Lance King – known most readily for his affiliation with Balance of Power. In 2004, Pyramaze inked a record deal and knocked out Melancholy Beast, a critically acclaimed Power Metal album with some Progressive Metal tendencies.

Taking it now a step further, Kammeyer has developed a concept/epic album entitled Legend Of The Bone Carver. Based on the title, you might initially think the story premise is either Neanderthalistic, or perhaps even serial killer demented. Not the case at all … the short of the story line is the balance of good and evil in the world has skewed out of whack, with evil sucking up a larger-than-comfortable market share, so to speak. A woman prays for a solution to the current dismal “Era of Chaos,” and the answer comes via “The Birth” of a pure, messiah-type individual destined to realize his role at a very young age, and to confront the darkness of evil head on in a final epic battle. Having the ability to resurrect the righteous via carving ancient writings into their relic bones, this Bone Carver sets out to restore the balance of good and evil in the world, and most of the plot is dedicated towards describing his development from an infant into a highly aware and intellectual super-being.

Many a band have gone the concept route, and the unfortunate fact is they fall flat on their proverbial faces more times than not simply because it becomes too difficult to maintain the integrity of the story line while developing catchy lyrical and musical patterns. Concept album songs often come off flat, awkward, or boring for the sake of following overly complex plots and character developments. Fortunately, Pyramaze doesn’t fall victim to this all-too-common trap.

Musically, you’d have to call Legend Of The Bone Carver a Power Metal album due to the speed and “brightness” of the music, along with Morten Gade Sorensen’s rapid drumbeats. However, Jonah Weingarten’s keyboards, usually at a pace much slower than the rest of the instruments, plays a major role in this album, and this provides nice progressive, mysterious, and melancholy twists to the overall musical soundscape. Kammeyer and Toke Skjonnemand play in tandem very well throughout the album, and the guitars are clearly the dominant instrument throughout this record. Most times the songs are powerchord driven, but every now and then there are some noticeable Iron Maiden-influenced dual picked solos and riffs, and at other times you’ll hear some Neo-Classical guitar fills that show true diversity and skill by these axemen.

Then, of course, there’s Lance King … chances are you’re familiar with several of the various bands and projects he has been associated with in prior incarnations … but if you haven’t been exposed to his pipes in the past, do yourself a favor and find out what you’ve been missing. King is certainly one of the “hungriest” and hardest-working vocalists in all of Metal, and his performance on this record is certainly outstanding. Lance typically sings in higher octaves, but he has a warmth and smoothness to his voice that elicits a measure of comfort rather than annoyance. As is typical too with King, his vocal volume is not turned up to obnoxiously high levels in the production mix … you can hear him, obviously, and comprehend the lyrics, but his voice does not mask the solid and innovative musical performances by the rest of the band.

Structurally, all but the Japanese version of this album contains 10 tracks (the Japanese version includes an instrumental bonus track). The 1st track, “Era Of Chaos,” and the 9th track, “Blood Red Skies,” are predominantly spoken storyline tracks. Track 6, “She Who Summoned Me,” is a piano-influenced “ballad” type of song featuring segments by a female vocalist playing the character of the woman who first delivered the prayer for a “savior” to be delivered at the onset of the story. The other tracks, however, are fast-paced Progressive Power Metal songs, all with well-conceived lyrical patterns, most featuring catchy choruses that provide further definition and originality to set each apart. Each song also contains generous portions of musical interludes too, allowing the rest of the band to appropriately showcase their talents.

Overall, Pyramaze, now having 2 solid albums under their belts, has certainly shown they are indeed a legitimate musical creative force to be reckoned with … and Kammeyer has proven that he’s more than a capable songwriter. Fans of Power Metal, Progressive Metal, and/or Metal performed with an exceptional vocal talent should rush out and pick up a copy of this one …

Listen to the interview with Lance King here

Band Members

Lance King – Vocals
Michael Kammeyer – Guitars
Toke Skjonnemand – Guitars
Morten Gade Sorensen – Drums
Niels Kvist – Bass
Jonah Weingarten – Keyboards