Pharaoh
The Longest Night
10 - 53:04
Cruz Del Sur Music
(review by James Edward Raggi IV, written March 2006)
(this is one of three reviews of this album published simulataneously on this website. See the others here and here)
I will open this review by stating that I was criminally retarded concerning coverage of After the Fire in 2003. I was still in the crank-out-32 pages-a-month mode and demanding progression from everything I was listening to. In this frame of mind I denied Pharaoh a spot in my top albums for that year because it was "simply" a heavy metal album, even if it deserved the spot according to how much I listened to and enjoyed it. I even called it "retro" in my interview with Chris Black that year. I effectively shit on a heavy metal album for being a heavy metal album. Even while giving it a glowing review and giving two long interviews to members of the band. Time off and Scum taught me much.
Pharaoh is remarkable and powerful evidence against those who claim that heavy metal isn't what it used to be. It is heavy metal in its purest form, full of anger, bile, and pure disdain for the current state of the world. It is also a very mature, expressive, literate piece of musical art. Getting no credit simply for being heavy metal, Pharaoh earns every bit of praise and respect received through superior songcraft, avoiding the cliché and demonstrating that reinventing the wheel is not necessary to make fresh, vital music. Heavy metal of this type is over a quarter of a century old, but this album is full of energy and life.
The basic structures of Pharaoh songs are firmly rooted in the traditions of heavy metal's second decade. Verses, choruses, real singing by an aggressive vocalist, and not a growl or blast beat to be heard. Not a note of "-core" in the sound. The Maiden influence is still felt but the band has stepped out of the shadow. At no point does the album attempt to overpower with gimmicks. No "fastest band", no "fastest shredder", no "singer with the highest notes". Just four guys and their guitar-drive heavy metal (too bad that's not unnecessarily redundant to say...) songs. Each song stands on its own, and it is an album of distinct songs, not ten tracks of interchangeable heavy metal sound. Somebody made an effort.
In comparison to the first album, The Longest Night is going to sound more "professional", with a far more polished production. It does hurt a bit when the guitars are at their fiercest, as a more raw sound would help, but that's a minor flaw, considering the more flowing, melodic nature of the songs. Not a thrash album, this.
Some details about the album:
A few words about Chris Kerns. Matt Johnsen has a forum in Metal Maniacs, and releases Feast or Famine once every whenever. Chris Black also used to write for Metal Maniacs, had Word of Mouth, publishes the vital METAL magazine, had his own record label, and also records with both Dawnbringer and Superchrist. Both of those guys are well known by any heavy metal fan in English speaking realms who has sought out more information and greater insight into the arts of heavy metal. (Which means if you haven't read them, it does not mean I am exaggerating, it means you have major holes in your knowledge base), Tim Aymar is a multi-decade veteran of the metal wars, best known lately for his Control Denied work with Chuck Schuldiner. Chris Kerns? Who the fuck is Chris Kerns?
Chris Kerns is solely responsible for the best song on The Longest Night. By the Night Sky is the most complete-in-one-song listening experience to be found on the album. It also bothers to tie the name of the band in to a lyrical concept. It has one of the lyrical high points of the album:
We are a people like none were before
A civilization that demanded more
How many nations can hang that slogan over their mantle these days?
Kerns also wrote the title track on his own. Kerns didn't have the same representation in writing the debut as the other guys did, so maybe it was natural that he'd be the "forgotten Pharaoh", but I hope to never see another writeup of this band that treats him as anything other than a full fourth of the band.
Tim Aymar's vocal performance embodies the very definition of vitriol. Don't believe me? Look at this screen capture from dictionary.com. His vocal attack complements the anger and resignation found in most of the lyrics here. A listener is not signing up for a whiny, high pitched Eurocastrato when he decides to experience a Pharaoh song; Aymar is a mid-40s man (he was once quoted as calling Powerslave "new" Maiden in the late 90s) full of piss and vinegar and he's got balls of solid rock. Examples:
Opening song Sunrise is fascinating. Not only is it a break from commonly-practiced methods of "power" metal (no non-metal introduction, the first song is not the fastest/the most catchy/"the hit"), it is a song against the fucking sun. It's a magnitude greater than tilting at windmills, and it immediately establishes the scale of Pharaoh's focus. The lyrics are especially tasty:
First, the chorus:
Sunrise, come another day
The world looks best a deeper shade of grey
Sunrise, go the other way
I can live without you
Love will light the way
Sunrise
... and another bit...
Too many promises
The broken promise of tomorrow
For fools who live by the sun
Now for a thought exercise. Do not take the song at face value. Re-read the lyrics and think of the sun as mainstream exposure, as popularity, and the darkness as heavy metal (or any genuine musical form, really) as experienced only by those possessed by it, and knee-deep in it.
Apply the same focus to Up the Gates (a Johnsen composition) as well, actually, and see how this all works. Pharaoh's lyrics are quite inspiration and applicable to just about anyone who's got an uphill battle of any type in their immediate future. War metal for those who realize that long-haired heavy metal types who have problems with authority just might not fit in a military environment.
Interesting that the most aggressive songs on the album, I Am the Hammer and Fighting, are group compositions and not attributed to any one musician. Chris Black takes care of the Fighting lyrics, which gives us perhaps the best lyric I have heard in years:
We're fighting for a fantasy reality
In case our dreams are right
On
We
Fight
I don't know/care what that says to you, but it sure says a lot to me.
The Pharaoh experience reveals several truths:
Mr. Johnsen makes a cool website.
The most meaningful heavy metal is all about perseverence, struggle, and the fight.
The New Wave of American Heavy Metal is here, and it has nothing to do with MTV, Ozzfest, alternating growled/sung vocals, music videos with shitty computer special effects, or angsty kids with bad haircuts. It has to do with heavy metal, and Pharaoh is merely the tip of a large iceberg.
After nighttime walks in the Finnish winter, I can confirm that the world indeed looks best a deeper shade of grey.
Pharaoh is heavy metal.