Where do they keep coming from? I’m talking about the very technically skilled musicians that are rising out of nothing to form all this new progressive metal bands. This time they come from Spain, which is not the place you expect them to come from.
Sorry, slip of the tongue, they are not new, in fact, this is their third CD. Pyramid is a progressive metal band formed in Barcelona in 1998 by the infamous guitarist Tony Vallés (former musician of popular Spanish bands Manzano, Los Suaves and Hangar 18). In 1998, they released their self titled debut album and in 2000 their second CD “The Immaculate Lie” was born. I don’t know their previous work, so comparisons are not possible.

The architect, Antonio Gaudi, has been used as theme for a concept album before. (Alan Parsons Project with “Gaudi”.)

“Born Gaudi” is a phenomenal instrumental start for the album, with some beautiful solo work by both guitarists and the keyboards.
“Sons Of Gaudi” has a Dream Theater feeling about it. It amazes me that there’s only one singer on this CD. He sounds as someone else every time. He sometimes uses a normal, quiet voice, sometimes he sings with a more metal characteristic voice, from time to time there are some weird choir voices around and sometimes he even uses some cartoonish voice. This song is full of surprising and unexpected breaks by the guitars and the drums.
“Art Takes Word” starts with a sequencer and after a while some heavy guitars play along. The vocals as well as the whole song remind me of It Bites in their “Eat Me In St-Louis” period. Some splendid singing with some weird changes during the song.
“Sister Sona” starts as a real jazz song. What a surprise and what a change, but I’m afraid not everyone will like this. After a minute, it changes back to the progressive metal sound. It’s a complex, heavy piece with lots of changes and dissonant sounds. It contains some well performed drum parts, but the rest is really tiring because of the complexity. It will surely help to get to know it better, but it will take a while.
“La Pedrera” starts a lot less complex. There’s even some flamenco in it. You can clearly hear and recognize the sound and the rhythm in the background. So they finally show their roots. The song ends with the same piece of flamenco. The rest of the song is very complex again.
“The Architect Of God” is a good progressive metal song, nothing more.
“The Güell’s Dragons” is divided in three parts. The first part is speed metal with some vocals that remind me of Axl Rose. The second part has an excellent symphonic intro followed by an emotional guitar solo. Part three contains a difficult rhythm. There’s a beautiful middle piece with vocals and strings.
“Welcome To The Community” is again very difficult to get to know, though the chorus has a catchy melody. In the end there is some Hammond work by the keyboard player.
The last song is a symphonic piece with strings and chimes (La Sagrada?). It’s a beautiful moment of peace after this heavy album. They should have used some more tracks like this one.

Conclusion
A lot of technical skills and a lot of complexity. The fans of Dream Theater and Symphony X will like this album, but I would have preferred some ballad or some more tracks like the final one. Pyramid certainly is a band to watch in the future. It’s a bunch of weird guys with some weird pieces of music.

Reviewed by Danny 'Camil' Focke

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Last updated: 29 oktober 2002 .
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