Pyreweb

Pyre are a Symphonic Metal band from Brighton. Frontman Peter Chapman struggled throughout 2008 to assemble a stable lineup, finally striking gold with Ben Ingall on guitar, Freddie Burnet on drums and Jay Fitt on bass. As often seems to be the case with hindsight, the answer had been in plain sight the whole time - Peter and Jay had been frequenting the same Metal nights for years, the guitarists had lived together since 2007, and one brief conversation with another long-haired Metal frontma...

Pyre are a Symphonic Metal band from Brighton. Frontman Peter Chapman struggled throughout 2008 to assemble a stable lineup, finally striking gold with Ben Ingall on guitar, Freddie Burnet on drums and Jay Fitt on bass. As often seems to be the case with hindsight, the answer had been in plain sight the whole time - Peter and Jay had been frequenting the same Metal nights for years, the guitarists had lived together since 2007, and one brief conversation with another long-haired Metal frontman containing the words 'drummer' and 'very very loud' brought up Freddie's name. Also, Pyre all go to the same college, with Peter and Jay in one class together and Ben and Freddie in another. Pyre are still looking for a keyboardist, apply within! Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal – combine the three, and you end up with the basis of Pyre. Take the guitar work and progressive writing styles of Iron Maiden and Gamma Ray, add the keyboard flourishes and synth-heavy arrangements of older Nightwish albums and Children Of Bodom, and finish with the orchestral textures and epic structures of more recent Nightwish releases and Metallica’s S & M album. Adding further uniqueness to their sound, Pyre shun the operatic, Dickinson-esque, piercing vocals so prominent in Judas Priest and Gamma Ray, and the similar female talents found in Epica, After Forever and Within Temptation, and instead opt for a lower, darker male voice, more like that of Blaze Bayley-era Iron Maiden or James Hetfield of Metallica. Pyre then inject other elements as they pick and choose, such as the mechanical textures of Industrial acts like Rammstein and Nine Inch Nails, the heavy use of effects pedals found in Muse and Pink Floyd, the Punk Rock speed and brutally honest approach of The Offspring and SR-71, and many other ideas that they’re not quite sure of the origin of (classical guitars, extensive sawtooth synths, multi-tracked drum kits, harps etc). The lyrical subjects range from the very serious (Judgement Day, which chronicles the end of the world, Napalm Dawn, an examination of the reasons we go to war, and Hell’s Kitchen, a scathing yet tongue-in-cheek cultural satire), to the light hearted and downright fun (the science fiction adventures …Through Space & Time and The Angel Of The Bottomless Pit, the fist-pumping Heavily Metal anthem Heavily Ever After, and a prayer to Thor, My God Carries A Hammer), to the deep and meaningful (The Infinite War, a tale of a soldier who knows he will never be remembered, Hope Survives, detailing the retreat into fantasy in times of hardship, and Not Fade Away, of personal hopes and doubts). The result is something that might be called Symphonic Power Metal.