Pyramids

Pyramids | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 22, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Hydra Head Records
• ASIN: B0013N4CLQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,564 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Swarming, swirling guitars, drums like a churning steam press, a chorus of celestial voices. Instruments collude and collide in a roiling shoal and then dissipate, leaving a cavernous hole, a ghost town, the vestiges and echoes of a brief terrestrial existence. Pyramids conjure the cacophonies of the great unknown, one song at a time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars, some of the wierdest music out there, January 14, 2009

By 

Byron Ridenour (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pyramids (Audio CD)

The best way to understand this music is to hear it. I describe it as having beautiful, ethereal vocals in the likes of Sigur Ros, Genghis Tron-inspired drum programming, and then top it off with some atmospheric and distorted noise. However interesting it sounds, the music doesnt really go anywhere. Also, every song basically sounds the same. If your looking for music that is REALLY out there, check it out. They are on Hydra Head Records, who generally sport a wide range of abstract bands.

applause for creativity and originality
favorite tracks: sleds, this house is like any other world

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do They Know Something We Don't?, January 22, 2009

By 

K.I.B. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pyramids (Audio CD)

I feel safe calling this self-titled release from Texas's Pyramids hipster metal. To be honest, I would not refer to this bands sound as heavy metal at all. This sound could easily appeal to fans of indie/noise/pop groups such as Deerhunter and Animal Collective, and as such would be delegated as the metal among their easier listening collection.

If anything, Pyramids play a brand of psychedelic music with dark undertones,often harsh guitar, and aggressive drumming indicative of heavy metal. It is a sound as influenced by Brian Eno as it is Immortal. There is a darkness to this album that creeps into the psyche of the subdued listener.

Looking for stand-out tracks on this recording is foolish, as Pyramids create soundscapes rather than typical songs. No, you are not going to find yourself singing that catchy Pyramids song...as many times as I've listened to this album, I still don't know the names of any of the songs, nor do I really know when one ends and the next begins.

The sound of Pyramids is ethereal hell. Beneath lithe streams of whirling sound lurk the demonic echoes of something else. The percussion plays devil to the angelic ambience. It is as though consciousness tries desperately to cling to solace as the surrounding environment deteriorates into terrible uncertainty. Often the guitar/noise-work turn even more angular and dischordant, letting a more overtly metallic aggression take the fore. The drums, on first listen, sound as though they don't belong with the music, almost sounding like a bad aesthetic decision. Give it time, however, and the intelligent listener will find that the aggrivation and forcefulness of the percussion really emphasizes the point Pyramids attempt to make.

This is a very cerebral album, it works on the listener. Over time, one will find that this album draws you in, and even though it might seem as though there is nothing singular to pay attention to, you are completely drawn in. Like the character in a Lovecraft story who has obtained unearthly knowledge and wishes desperately to return to convention.

I cannot say this is a flawless album, and often it can be very boring. The remixes are hit and miss, but interesting regardless. The high point of this album, remixes or otherwise, is definitely the "Sleds" remix by France's Blut Aus Nord, who take the dishord of the sound to a new extreme.

One must ask themselves with a project like Pyramids, do they know something we don't? Have Pyramids obtained a musical knowledge beyond what the listener will be able to deduce? Or, are they just guys creating something that sounds different? Regardless, I find this album interesting and hope that Pyramids can produce something even better in the future.

The fourth star is to bring the average rating up, as they deserve it on effort alone.

3.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind., January 9, 2011

By 

Nicholas Foley (San Diego CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pyramids (Audio CD)

Black metal unplugged? Shoegaze played by manic depressives? Whatever these guys aim to accomplish here is a personal mystery, but my cursory impression was that this music leaves me cold. Yes, cold. I imagine hermits decked in the hides of beasts trying to build fires outside their stalactite covered caves. Icicles forming outside the gates of abandoned buildings. Your average Pyramids composition begins with a heavily reverbed soundscape that tricks you into believing you're about to be treated to something relaxing before a barrage of fast tempo drums appear and confound your senses.

This is gentle chaos. Some of the most original music I've heard in years and the equivalent of aural vertigo. Still, it's a hard sell and I would only recommend to listeners seasoned to cross-genre experimentation.

The second disc takes the more accessible elements of Pyramids' music and brings them up front and center, revealing very melodic songs beneath the abrasion of their sound. The remixers (including personal favorites such as Jesu's Justin Broadrick) have done a fine job with the tools they've been handed.

As last year's "Sailors With Wax Wings" project showed, this band hosts atleast one stellar songwriter. It'll prove interesting to hear where they go with this unique, if not somewhat distressing sound.