MASERATI - Pyramid Of The Sun

8 songs
40:16 minutes
***** ****
Golden Antenna

Bandpage

Usually new albums are a reason to celebrate, but things must have been very hard for Maserati who lost their drummer Jerry Fuchs in a tragic accident in November 2009. After a few months of reconsidering, they decided to go on as a band and to release Pyramid Of The Sun, a record they started writing with Jerry Fuchs, anyway. The drum parts had to be sampled from existent recordings, which is a unusual way to proceed, but if one thing was clear, it was that Jerry Fuchs deserved this album to be his legacy.

Pyramid Of The Sun starts with the two and a half minute long intro Who Can Find The Beast?, consisting of a suspenseful sequencer pattern, rather unheard from this band before, but a good start into the record which continues with the two more typical sounding tracks Pyramid Of The Sun and We Got The System To Fight The System. Maserati have always been a post rock band, and even if they have never had the groundbreaking impact of more popular ones, their nervous guitar melodies always set them apart from the more laid back competition. They’ll No More Suffer From Thirst features Zombi synth master Steve Moore who adds some spacy sequences that give the song a danceable kraut rock feeling. The delay effects on the distorted guitars help emphasise the psychedelic ambience. The short and experimental Ruins leads into another sequencer driven track, the six minute long They’ll No More Suffer From Thirst. Oaxaca is another piece with Moore on keyboards, and with eight minutes the album’s longest tracks. It all ends with a fitting tribute to Jerry Fuchs: Bye M’Friend, Goodbye. This six and a half minute long track may start rather melancholically but soon becomes more cheerful, before ending in a suitable fade-out. What better way to pay respect to a great musician?

Anyone who ever saw Jerry Fuchs play live (I must have had the occasion two or three times) knows of the great loss to the world of music. Pyramid Of The Sun is a rather short album, but it is a labour of love that every fan of good rock music will definitely enjoy.