Fem is the upcoming fifth full-length album from Swedish sludge outfit Pyramido as they continue to add to their body of work and look to further their reach from their native Scandinavia.
All of Pyramido’s work I have taken a look at has a DIY feel to it and this album is no different, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this approach at all but with the style of music Pyramido are putting out, it wouldn’t suffer from a bit of polish and production.
Whilst it can be said that Fem is atmospheric and harbours a gritty, metallic sound with aggressive, glass in the throat vocals, it’s also hindered by a sheer lack of diversity across the record. The most standout track on the record is the last one (and shares the albums name) and this shines because it’s not only slightly musically different that it breaks the mould of the record but it contains very little vocals, with them only coming in at the very end.
Pyramido are definitely not for everyone and I’m sure they have a solid following somewhere. They sound like they would be a better live act than one to throw on in the background or on your headphones. Each track here blends into the next with no real difference between them, usually, a seamless record is a good thing but it feels like this was less by design and more because of the missing variety alluded to earlier.
The vocal style remains the same throughout which only adds to the album’s downside, in places it feels like the vocals and the music just don’t match at all and that something else should have at least been experimented with. On a fifth album, there should be signs of growth and evolution but it seems with Pyramido that they are content on sticking to what they know. When looking to break through further in the European markets and beyond, this may not be the best strategy.
