siLLy puPPy PHARAOH seems to be a popular band name but this US power metal act emerged from Philadelphia in 1997 and is best known as the band that scored the incredible vocal talents of Tim Aymar who had dazzled the world with his strong vocal performances with Death’s Chuck Schuldiner in Control Denied which unfortunately was Schuldiner’s last project before his untimely passing. This PHARAOH (as opposed to the New Jersey sludge metal band) has also been fortunate to have worked with other metal greats such as Chris Poland (OHM, Megadeth) and Mike Wead of King Diamond fame.

This band has kept a fairly stable lineup since its inception and still cranking out albums over two decades later. This debut AFTER THE FIRE was released in 2003 and found the band hitting the ground running as a fully fueled power metal band that hit its stride right from the start. This debut didn’t exactly reinvent the power metal wheel and certainly wasn’t the most innovative or forward thinking album but where the originality lacks, the quartet of Tim Aymar (vocals), Matt Johnsen (guitars), Chris Kerns (bass) and Chris Black (drums) succeeded in generating nine exquisite tracks of heavy metal inspired power metal.

Lurking somewhere between the classic metal traditions of Iron Maiden, Dio, Saxon and other progenitors of the melodic metal of yore along with the more energetic power fueled metal bands such as Angra, Helloween and Running Wild, PHARAOH hit all the right notes on its debut AFTER THE FIRE and continues to deliver satisfying returns to the present. After proving himself with the more progressively infused power metal with Control Denied, Aymar effortlessly delivers some of the best power metal vocal performances of the genre and all of that includes this debut album despite this album remaining a bit overlooked and under appreciated int he band’s overall discography.

What makes good power metal is all here in abundance, namely frenetic high speed tempos, thundering guitar and bass riffing, powerful percussive drive and highly melodic epic compositions that recount battle scenes fueled with fantasy and fury. The band does an excellent job at balancing the elements of instrumentation with vocals and the metal of yore tributes are updated to reflect the energetic flow of the era it was released. In many ways this album reminds me of what a Dio album would’ve sounded if the band accompanying Ronnie James happened to be Helloween or Lost Horizon. The tempos rampage throughout with only small respites of acoustic guitar and slower moments for contrast’s sake.

While i personally prefer originality to cookie cutter songwriting, i have to admit that when a band does such a stellar task in crafting music that nails a style of music on all fronts then i’m a true sucker for its gravitational pull and while a lot of power metal can become a little cheesy when taken to extremes, somehow PHARAOH succeeded in keeping that metal grit in place while offering some of the most instantly addictive melodic ear worms the power metal universe has to offer. So all in all definitely not the most original metal album of all time especially coming from the excellent short-lived Control Denied standpoint but a satisfying perfectly executed US power metal album for sure.