by Dean Wolfe, Prog dog Media [album release August 21, 2020]
Having grown up in St. Catharines Ontario, home of Neil Peart, and having lived in Toronto, I kind of consider Rush 'my band' in the way sports fans are endeared to their city teams. Once I got familiar with Dream Theater out of neighbouring USA- I looked at them as an American version of our Rush.
Now comes along Pyramid Theorem out of Toronto and what comes to mind is: Canada's 'Dream Theater?'
Not sure if the band would agree with this assessment, because they wear their Rush influences openly, but thankfully not in an overtly copy-cat fashion. They seem true to themselves.
First of all the musicianship across the board here is catastrophically good i.e. 'impressive...most impressive'. However you can only get so far on chops alone. Instagram is full of multitudes of faceless guitarists performing jaw-dropping calisthenics that will discourage as many newbie musicians as inspire them. What has to be acknowledged is that without 'the song' it's all just a thin sandwich.
So that's what I looked for- and found- in Pyramid Theorem's third album 'Beyond the Exosphere'--- substance and body that will hit the spot- and deliver...truly meat and potatoes prog of the ballsy kind. The first place I found it was in the songwriting which is strong melodically speaking. Pyramid Theorem are symphonic as often as they are hard rock riff-driven. The keyboards capture the spirit of classical music at times, with fat choral choral samples in Closer to the End for example. And Monster starts off with appropriately monstrous riffs. There's some duelling solos between guitars and keyboards here and there, reminding me of Dream Theater. Overall there's good variety of feel across the album without excess fat or tedium.
The vocals are excellent thoughout- strong, clear and powerful (no growling that I'm aware of in the band). There's lots of terrific harmonizing as well- in fact a majority of the singing is done harmonized. That was a slight point of confusion for me. Is there a single dominant lead singer? The album credits three singers in the band of four (not the drummer, no surprises, he keeps busy enough without having to sing). I'm sensing there is perhaps an effort to share the singing rather than any one vocalist becoming the focus. It works for me! Marketing-wise, I don't know if the cigar chomping business execs would approve of no obvious poster-boy singer in the band, swinging his mic in circles.
I like the lyrical content- with timely comments relative to the lockdowns in progress when the album was released in 2020 for example. "We raise our voices!" Yes!
One additional comment before we score the album. Symmetry. This album as a whole has got it. As the end track fades off into the sunset, the aftertaste is sweet.
Prog dog Score: Prog fans, rejoice! Pyramid Theorem delivers the meat and potatoes. Beyond the Exosphere -being on the dense side instrumentally- requires repeat listens to parse out all of the tasteful substance, so let it grow on you. We give it a resounding 4 1/2 out of 5 bones. This is an excitement-worthy album from an excitement-worthy band.
My reaction videos to the entire album HERE.
A video version of this review is HERE
