With the luxury of years and years of metal knowledge under their belts (two members of this band have done time in some major metal publications), Pennsylvania’s Pharaoh had better know how to make an album that eludes criticism. Luckily for them and for us, The Longest Night is as complete and thorough of a classic metal album you’ll hear this year, escaping any form of criticism at all.

Rooted in the textured, melodically capable sound of mid-80’s metal (think Maiden, Savatage, some Dio, and Metal Church), Pharaoh’s deep and involved sound is guided by the guitar playing of Matt Johnsen. Johnsen’s melodic sensibilities are what dominate this thing; no movements are killed by bad note choices and most, if not all his solos and harmonies are memorable in some way.

Vocalist Tim Aymar (ex-Control Denied) uses the rough edge of his voice throughout most of The Longest Night, resulting in gritty, potent chorus sections in ‘I Am The Hammer’ and ‘Fighting’. When Aymar does reach for the rafters, as in some moments of ‘Like A Ghost’ and ‘Sunrise’, the man takes over the mix and shows the true power of his voice. No wonder why Schuldiner liked him so much.

‘In The Violet Fire’ and ‘Like A Ghost’, take the cake here on an album without a bad song on it. Both display urgent, surging power chords from Johnsen (especially Like A Ghost’) in addition to Aymar’s boastful and raucous vocal choices.

Pharaoh is the real deal, devoid of the annoying shtick and gas-station worker persona of Three Inches Of Blood or the innate dorkiness of many of its power metal contemporaries. However, tagging this as true power metal is misleading, for what Pharaoh does would probably confuse and bewilder a lot of those in the power metal scene. Really, this album is that good.

» cruzdelsurmusic.com