After nearly a decade of silence, Pyramids emerge once more—transcending expectation and genre alike.
Nine years in the making, the band’s forthcoming album Pythagoras is a fearless study in juxtaposition: black metal and shoegaze collide with reggaeton and neoperreo, forging a sonic terrain unlike anything in the extreme music landscape. Today, we unveil its first single: “Pretty Pigs.”
Watch the official music video now:
“Sometimes songs just happen,” says Pyramids founder Rich Loren Balling of the track. “If I was to lead with a question for context, it would be: Why do the wicked prosper? 'Pretty Pigs' is for those who share a high sense of injustice. An inner monologue constructed within the crosshairs of melody and misfortune.”
“Pretty Pigs” captures the essence of Pythagoras—a bold fusion of blast beats and reggaeton’s dembow pulse, ethereal melodies and crushing noise. It’s one of the album’s most vivid realizations of genre collision, both devastating and hypnotic.
The journey to Pythagoras began in the wake of 2015’s A Northern Meadow, a record praised for refining the beautiful chaos of Pyramids’ earlier work. Over the next nine years, Balling—along with original members Matthew Kelly, Matt Embree, and David Embree—pushed further into harsh noise, tracing the arc of genre evolution from the primal weight of Black Sabbath to the frozen howl of Darkthrone. Along the way came an unexpected revelation: the rhythmic complexity and emotional depth found in modern reggaeton and neoperreo.
Artists like Emjay, La Zowi, Six Sex, Bea Pelea, Karol G, and Rosalía became unlikely but vital influences, refracting the extremes of metal through the ecstatic lens of pop innovation. This rhythm-driven intensity forms the backbone of Pythagoras—a record where syncopated reggaeton grooves and feral black metal co-exist, amplify, and ultimately transform one another.
To realize this vision, Pyramids brought in Emy Smith, whose vocals evoke the spectral sensuality of neoperreo, floating ghostlike above the wreckage. The album’s artwork—created by Miami nail artist Kro Vargas (aka Krocaine)—offers a visual counterpart: intricate, charged, and impossible to ignore.
Pythagoras is more than an album—it’s a meditation on the cycle of musical extremes. According to Balling, “genres evolve until they collapse into beauty.” The result is a listening experience both expansive and suffocating, mathematical yet primal. A record that speaks to a world on the edge, searching for rhythm in the chaos.
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⚡ Listen to “Pretty Pigs” on all streaming platforms: https://orcd.co/w05vweq
