ELECTRIC WIZARD “Wizard Bloody Wizard”
Witchfinder / Spinefarm Records
Electric Wizards new album Wizard Bloody Wizard (a very fitting title for this band of miscreants that worship at the altar of the almighty Black Sabbath) harks back to their pre Wizard days as Eternal while retaining all that made Electric Wizard great in the first place. The riffs, of course, are here and they are here in full force but whereas before the riffs of Electric Wizard were like a full on boot to the face, here they whilst still heavy, are a much groovier affair and as well as the inevitable Sabbath worship, the riffs and the music on Wizard Bloody Wizard seems to take sonic inspiration from the more psychedelic end of the 1970s and bands like Blue Cheer, the JPT Scare Band and Sir Lord Baltimore.
Opening number See You In Hell invokes proto-metal rather than doom/stoner/whatever else you want to call Electric Wizard and this carries on throughout the album and allows the band to create looser and more uptempo vibe with their music which suits them just as much as their slower/doomier styles.
The riffs are still as heavy, obviously, but more upbeat and tinged in fuzz as guitarist & vocalist Jus Osborn sings his tales of sex, murder and the underbelly of life with a hint of glee in his vocals this time and is aptly aided in the riff department by bandmate and wife Liz Buckingham and they excel on Hear The Sirens Scream which continues in this up tempo hard rocking style with a creeping riff forming the backbone of the song.
The Reaper is the most out there thing on Wizard Bloody Wizard with a distorted organ taking center stage for the bands triply elements to creep into play and this track (by far the shortest song on the album) acts as an intriguing interlude before the heavy psych explodes again on Wicked Caresses.
The monolithic Mourning Of The Magicians finishes the album off and is a culmination of what has come before it and sounds like a farewell to the Electric Wizard everyone knew, much like the Manson murders and Altamont finished off the summer of love and flowers in your hair in one cold hearted swoop, its slow lurch menaces anything that crosses its path and seems an apt way to close the album, a lament to the bands history and the perfect way to finish here.
The band will inevitably catch some flack from certain sections of their fan base who want them to retain the Come My Fanatics/Dopethrone vibe forever (the band themselves certainly harked back to it on their last album 2014s Time To Die) and that is fair enough but Electric Wizard have always been about more than that. They were always inspired by the sleazy and dark elements of the 60s and 70s and this comes alive, perhaps more than ever on Wizard Bloody Wizard so turn up, tune in and drop out to another side of Electric Wizard.
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