PHARAOH – Returning with their new full-length, Bury The Light, Pennsylvania’s Pharaoh has weaved Melodic and Epic Metal together, with slivers of progressiveness, making for a marvelous listen. This being the fourth album from Pharaoh, it is a 10 song experience, guitar driven, rhythmically pumped and vocally solid. Tim Aymar is not just belting out Heavy Metal lyrics, he is singing songs of story-filled substance. The Helloweenish bass of Chris Kerns and stellar drumming of Chris Black are a potent and fun listen together, throughout this album.
Then there is the guitar playing of Matt Johnsen, where he embellishes that progressive tone on par with what I’ve grown accustomed to from the six-string wizards of Iron Maiden and Queensrÿche. To a flirtatious degree, Matt exhibits the poignant tones of Steve Howe’s eloquence. Matt isn’t all about tearing-it-up and piling-up the riffs, instead this is one polished guitarist who plays with a glorious respect for Melodic Metal.
If you’re unfamiliar with Pharaoh, Tim Aymar is a vocally muscular Dan McCafferty. Gritty, sandpapered vocal cords and still able to sing on a melodic level. I could no doubt deny that Tim Aymar could sing the entire No Mean City album from the legendary Nazareth and blow my mind away in doing so. Regardless of my comparative silliness, Pharaoh is a paradigm for younger bands to hear and realize that Heavy Metal as music isn’t just about booze, fast women and overdosing to near death.
Castles In The Sky is the signature song on Bury The Light for my ears. Flowing with every nugget of Melodic Metal that Pharaoh can muster, while infusing synthetic vocals akin to that of ELO or Mr. Roboto, this band can turn a surprise progressive trick when they want to. The Year Of The Blizzard is the epic that you must hear, to understand fully just how authentic Pharaoh is as a group of musicians. Summoning up the twilight dreamscape of RUSH’s brilliance from 2112, Pharaoh has genuinely tapped into a progressive realm they can surely call their own on The Year Of The Blizzard.
Please excuse all the previous musical comparisons, only when an album this great can trigger my mind to recall works of art from Hard Rock and Metal of years long past, then said album may indeed one day be recalled a work of art itself. For now, Bury The Light is that honest and great album of Melodic Metal from skilled musicians, an album that doesn’t compromise on heaviness, nor shall it short change you on its dynamical presentation.
BURY THE LIGHT – Track Listing:
Leave Me Here To Dream
The Wolves
Castles In The Sky
The Year Of The Blizzard
The Spider’s Thread
Cry
Graveyard Of Empires
Burn With Me
In Your Hands
The Spider’s Thread (reprise)
* Bury The Light will be released on March 6th, 2012, via Cruz Del Sur.
* For more info on PHARAOH, click on the links below:
http://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com
LONG LIVE PHARAOH.
Stone.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
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