optisailor2002 USA's Pharaoh this year releases their fourth full length album, Bury the Light. Having already released 3 overall pretty well-received full length albums and almost 15 years of playing experience, this band is certainly not one that is new to the metal genre, containing members that have been involved in bands like Nachtmysticum and famed Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner's Control Denied, leaving me with high expectations despite this being my first encounter with Pharaoh.

Unlike their 2010 EP Ten Years, Bury the Light opens strongly, with catchy and high-energy riffs on Leave me Here to Dream, and the band also does not hesitate to show off the members' talents on their instruments, with bassist Chris Kerns immediately given a short lead spot. The vocals of Tim Aymar is immediately recognisable, strong and raspy, and it sounds almost as if he hasn't aged and his voice has not deteriorated even by a bit since his works with Control Denied, and this remains as one of the personal highlights of the album as evident on tracks like Castles in the Sky where he pushes his vocal limits, despite its relatively low mix in the album compared to the other instruments. Softer moments on the album such as the acoustic section on The Year of the Blizzard also lets Aymar's vocals shine. The music on the album is mostly a melodic style of heavy/power metal, and suffice to say, Tim Aymar's vocals certainly fits the bill on an album like this, backed by a competent instrumental section.

Unfortunately, despite containing numerous outstanding musicians, the band falters on the songwriting aspect, and while many tracks contain a number of different styles and could have been a good idea if executed nicely enough, they tend to get slightly overused at times and easily bore the listener by introducing too many different elements on a single track, making this album to be slightly difficult to digest on the first few listens despite its melodic qualities. Even softer tracks like The Year of the Blizzard can get pretty hard to listen to. At times, the transition between different styles also end up sounding awkward, such as the transition between heavy and more melodic moments on tracks like Leave me Here to Dream and The Wolves, making it sound as if the band were unsure about which direction they want to take. There are also moments when the different instruments sound slightly incoherent and out of pace with each other, and this definitely affects the flow and enjoyment of the album.

Bury the Light is perhaps one of the more unconventional power metal albums that I have listened to of late, and while the inclusion of numerous styles could border the band on progressive metal territory, this album is certainly not for the casual power metal fan looking for a catchy power metal album, and could instead be more satisfying for someone looking for something slightly more technical and progressive than your everyday power metal.

(http://www.heavymetaltribune.com/)

adg211288 Bury the Light is the fourth studio album from US power metal act Pharaoh. The 2012 album is the band’s first full-length since 2008’s Be Gone, although there was an EP, Ten Years, released in 2011. While the EP was a solid effort it’s Bury the Light that the fans will really have been waiting for. And the wait, I assure you, is totally worth it.

What I like about Bury the Light the most is that it not only retains the high level of quality song writing and musicianship that I’ve come to expect from a Pharaoh album, but it also sees Pharaoh pushing the boat out a bit more when it comes to what they’re including in their sound, which admittedly is pretty much intact from Be Gone, but with a little more variation. Be Gone, in my opinion, is an essential USPM album, but much of it sticks to the tried and tested formula. Bury the Light on the other hand, while still very much a USPM album in Pharaoh’s distinct style, has more in common with the band’s 2006 masterpiece The Longest Night not so much in overall sound but the fact it’s not as one-dimensional as Be Gone. Here we have plenty of quality USPM on offer that’s sure to please the fans, but the music also strays into other genres as well, resulting in some nice surprises.

A notable example of this would have to be the album’s fourth track, The Year of the Blizzard, which includes influences from retro hard rock, but also of note is The Wolves, which sees Pharaoh playing at their most aggressive, compared to their usually melody driven music. Every now and then throughout the album we also get some parts that stray into progressive territory. For the most part though the album is, if anything, typical Pharaoh, a sound that isn’t really as aggressive as some USPM can be, but doesn’t fit the Euro PM mould either, instead sitting somewhere in between. Melodic USPM would be an appropriate tag for Pharaoh’s music I guess.

As with all Pharaoh releases the four-piece band is a tight unit. The instrumental work from Matt Johnsen (guitars), Chris Kerns (bass), and Chris Black (drums) sounds great behind Tim Aymer’s powerful vocals. The album also features a guest guitar solo from regular Pharaoh collaborator Jim Dofka and also features a guest solo slot from Mike Wead (King Diamond). Album highlights would be Leave Me Here to Dream, Graveyard of Empires, Castles in The Sky and The Wolves. There are no weak tracks though, in fact the only negative thing I have to say about Bury the Light is that for some parts of the album the production work is a bit lacking. It’s certainly not a terrible production job and in itself manages to give Bury the Light a little bit of a different feel to it than Be Gone in particular, but there are definitely some parts to the album that seem to demand the polished and clear production of Be Gone rather than the occasionally rawer production values to be found here. This is fitting enough for an aggressive track like The Wolves, but don’t sit as well with me for the melodic numbers.

The production is a minor issue though, as it doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyment that I get from the release, and speaking as a fan of the band instead of a reviewer, I’m not disappointed in this release at all, although ultimately, even though it’s another exceptional effort from Pharaoh, I have to say that Bury the Light doesn’t quite manage to stand up to The Longest Night and Be Gone. Although after two masterpieces this is a more than satisfactory release from the band, which I’d rank the third best out of their four albums to date.

9.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Ten Years is an EP release from US Power Metal act Pharaoh, a band that features the vocal talents of Control Denied’s Tim Aymar. The EP is released to cerebrate the first ten years of the band and contains six tracks; two from the recording sessions of their prior full-length, Be Gone from 2008, two that were previously released only on the bonus 7” that came with the vinyl of Be Gone, and two cover songs, those being New Model Army’s White Light and Slayer’s Tormentor.

First up and the two songs from Be Gone’s recording sessions, Ten Years, and When We Fly. The fact that these songs never actually made it to the Be Gone album raises some warning bells with me, but they’re generally solid Pharaoh material that naturally have the same sort of vibe as that album and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on it.

The first of the covers is up next, but I’ll discuss those last and move onto the tracks from the bonus 7”, Reflection and the Inevitable Future and Nothing I Can Say. Like the first two tracks these songs would have not sounded out of place as a part of the Be Gone album. They make for a nice inclusion on the EP for those fans who bought the Be Gone CD rather than the vinyl. Out of all the original Pharaoh songs on the EP the title track stands firm as the strongest offering with it’s addictive chorus, heavy riffing and melodic leads.

Finally there are the cover songs. White Light, originally by New Model Army is up first. New Model Army is an alternative/post-punk band, so the song choice may seem odd on paper, but it proves a nice addition to the EP, with Aymar shining vocally. The second cover is the sixth and final track. Originally by thrash metal band Slayer there’s a noticeable difference in the riffing style used by the two bands making it the most intense track on the EP but Pharaoh really makes it their own and both covers fit in well with the band’s original material.

Overall Ten Years is a great addition to any prior Pharaoh fan’s collection. If you liked what came before there’s no reason not to like this. Due to the nature of this EP it’s pretty much a fan’s only release, but a very nice one at that and it comes at just the right time to tide people over while they wait for the band to deliver their fourth full-length album. Newcomers are advised to seek out prior full-lengths as an introduction however, especially the 2006 album, The Longest Night.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 8.3/10)

adg211288 Be Gone is Pharaoh’s third album so far following on from 2003’s After the Fire and 2006’s The Longest Night. Both their previous efforts are very strong power metal, with The Longest Night being among some of the finest albums I’ve heard in the genre, so Be Gone has a rather high standard to live up to, but while Be Gone may not be quite as good as The Longest Night (though it comes close), I think it’s pretty safe to say that this to, is some exceptionally fine US style power metal. There are nine songs, clocking in at 47 minutes dead, so it’s not the longest album in the world (neither is it the shortest), but this is an album which is going to have you banging your head from start to finish.

Speak to Me is the albums opening track. It starts with some guitar stabs which build up into a complex and melodic riff, which quickly changes to a section which can only be called a build up to the main song. A brief section of clean guitars precedes the verse which is when the riffing gets heavier and the vocals of Tim Aymar come in. Those familiar with power metal bands with very melodic singers will have something of a surprise if they are not familiar with previous work by this man, since his usual voice is distinctly rougher in tone than most power metal, particular those from Europe. That’s not to say he sings in an extreme style, it’s still clean vocals, but with a real edge of them and that is just one element that makes Pharaoh the band they are. Speak to Me features a very interesting melodic guitar break in the song, in a place where some bands might have throw a fast solo, and it works so much better for it. When an actual solo does come (to lead the song out), it’s not a show off moment in spite of the obvious talent of Matt Johnsen. Dark New Life continues the high standard set by Speak to Me. This song totally lacks an intro, Aymar’s vocals hit you straight away, and unusually, it’s the chorus section, which has got some epic lyrics that invite singing along. Again the guitar solos impress me for not being about speed.

For me the true highlight of Be Gone is the fifth track, entitled Buried at Sea. At 7:03 it’s the longest track on the album and see’s the band take it down a notch for its intro (though it does start with some distorted guitars, it’s not overly heavy), which sees some softer melodic vocals from Aymar. They are much cleaner than his normal singing voice. It’s not a ballad though, as it gets heavy pretty quick and turns into a real epic, especially in the chorus.

What makes Be Gone so special though is the fact that despite that Pharaoh generally stick to the winning power metal formula, no two songs on the album sound the same and it never bores. The song writing which is shared between all four members of the band is superb on both music and lyrical fronts. Rarely do all members of a band contribute in such a way; most bands have one or two songwriters, but Pharaoh, with four, have proved that they can produce great albums such as Be Gone in a way that the songs have identity as Pharaoh and uniqueness at the same time. It may not be as good as The Longest Night, which I felt was the definition of power metal, but with highlights such as Buried At Sea, Red Honour, No Remains, Telepath, Dark New Life, Be Gone, Speak to Me, Rats and Rope and Cover Your Eyes and Pray...oh wait that’s the whole album! Yeah, every song is a highlight, and that’s just how I like my albums to be. Be Gone is without a doubt one of 2008’s best metal offerings and without a duff moment, it fully deserves this score.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)