JUNE 2008 ONLINE EDITORIALS
Pyroglyph – The Up Rising
By Nate Harper
A lot of metal bands are thematic because when you’re playing heavy rock the music generally speaks for itself. The machine gun drums, chunky rhythms and squealing leads do more than most vocalists can to convey the angry mood, which is why when you only sing about politics or Satan, it’s easy to write your lyrics because there’s no need to try and get angry about something new, or try to write a happy metal song, which only rarely work.
Pyroglyph is not a thematic metal band, and while any respectable music fan likes variety, their lyrical scope doesn’t always work in their favor. Musically they’re all Dokken and 80s German thrash, never shying away from hyper-dactyl leads or spirited, high-pitched wails into the mic. Save for a few transitions when the drums aren’t quite in time with everyone else, they achieve the sound they set out for. It’s lyrically that they show some of their weaknesses.
Vocalist/bassist Leon Gaudin’s presence on the mic isn’t forceful enough – if this is a man raised on Iron Maiden and vintage Slayer, he could do more to replicate the energy that those bands have. Lyrically, the album relies too much on simply rhymed couplets that prove predictable by the end of the record, and topically they run the gamut from social justice and war to the Indy Racing League. As it’s their first record some slack must be given, but one hopes their follow up will feature a little more care to what is bellowed over their beds of 80s charged energy.