Black Pyramid – The Paths of Time are Vast
Release Date: 3rd May 2024
Label: Totem Cat Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Stoner Metal.
FFO: Sleep, High on Fire, Khemmis, Cathedral.
Review By: Paul Cairney
The last album we heard from Massachusetts based Doom trio Black Pyramid was 2013’s Adversarial, and it is fair to say that the band have undergone a few personnel changes. Now, over a decade later, we are hit with the bands 4th full-length The Paths of Time are Vast, and it is an album delivered with no half measures!
Let’s get the negative out the way. This is a long album, nearly 70 minutes long. Unfortunately, it is not an album that you can easily dip in and out of. No, The Paths of Time are Vast is an album that you need to utterly immerse yourself in, preferably with a decent set of headphones. This will allow you to enjoy the absolute majesty of some of the tracks.
That’s it. The negative is the length. After that, it is all positive.
Opening track, ‘Bile, Blame and Blasphemy’ is a 12-minute odyssey. It is a track with sheer monolithic intent, containing enough groove to warm the coldest of hearts, with hints of a little bit of psychedelic oomph thrust in for good measure.
The following 7 tracks essentially mirror the quality of the opener, although they do vary in length, which is welcoming. Perhaps the crowning glory of the album is the 1-2-3 punch of the title track. We have ‘The Paths of Time are Vast Parts I, II and III’. It is in this section of the album where Black Pyramid hit their collective stride, especially in Part III, which is the longest section. Here, the boys expand and experiment with the music, delivering groove laden riffs with ease. It is easy to lose yourself.
Finishing up with the near 16-minute epic of ‘The Quantum Phoenix’, you may feel concern that the album will drift to a close. This doesn’t happen, helped by a psychedelic groove-laden jam festering within the construct of the song.
At 70 minutes long, this is an album where you need to invest a bit of time. Put on your cans, plug yourself in and enjoy! Settle in to the vastness of the paths of time. 
(4 / 5)
