PHARAOH (PA) — The Powers That Be (review)

PHARAOH (PA) — The Powers That Be album cover Album · 2021 · US Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
adg211288
The Powers That Be (2021) is the fifth full-length studio album by US power metal act Pharaoh. It has been almost a whole decade since we last got an album from Pharaoh, that being Bury the Light (2012), so The Powers That Be is very much a comeback release even though the band has never been officially inactive during that time. The same band line-up is still in place as well, that of Tim Aymar (vocals), Matt Johnsen (guitars), Chris Kerns (bass) and Chris Black (drums). Pharaoh have been rocking this same line-up since before their first studio album, After the Fire (2003).

When a band falls off the radar for whatever reason, there must surely be a lot riding on their comeback. No band wants to go almost ten years without new material for their fans to say something like 'we waited this long, for this?' There should be no danger of this happening to Pharaoh however, as they haven't just delivered a great album with The Powers That Be, they've got something here that may just be their best album to date.

The sound of the album is unmistakeably that of Pharaoh, but this is a Pharaoh that feels somewhat rawer and harder than we've heard previously. They have always existed more on the melodic end of the USPM genre, with plenty of Iron Maiden-esque classic heavy metal influences also coming into play, while Bury the Light also saw them referencing seventies hard rock, but The Powers That Be seems to exist to make a big impact: riffy USPM, hitting hard and fast across the duration of the nine new tracks. There's a progressive sensibility and complexity in there as well, blended with aggressive playing to perfection to result in an album that not only seems like Pharaoh are screaming 'we're back!', they're screaming 'we're back, bigger and better than ever before'. To top this off, the changes in sound seem to suit the voice of Tim Aymer more than ever.

The Powers That Be is an album that was well worth the wait and a tremendous pay off for Pharaoh. That said, I really hope it also marks a return to some sort of regularity for them, since based on this, we definitely need this band to stick around. An album of the year 2021 contender for me.
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Nightfly wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Love this album.

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