Review: WIZARDS OF WIZNAN “No Light Has No Shadow” [Argonauta Records]

In the second half of 2023, the young Swiss band Wizards of Wiznan released their debut album No Light Has No Shadow in collaboration with Argonauta Records. This is their first serious work, aside from their EP Experimental Brew two years earlier, where they began exploring the sludge/stoner scene, trying to find their own sound. Here, they delve deeper into sludge, adding a layer of traditional doom/death and spicing it with the malevolent spirit of black metal.

Wizards of Wiznan hail from the dead city of Visinand (or Le Végenand), which was once devastated by a merciless plague. Their origins have profoundly influenced not only the band’s lyrics but also the overall atmosphere, enriching their musical textures with the spirit of a grim past. This influence is felt not on a mundane level, but rather through the ethereal layers of their art, which, despite its monotony and certain primitiveness, is in some ways multifaceted. One musical imprint connects with another, maintaining a monumental backdrop without the need for progressive elements and experimental moves. No Light Has No Shadow is shrouded in a thin veil of medieval foredoom and superstition, yet it sounds appropriate on 21st-century equipment. Some bands dream of the past, some look only to the future, but bands like Wizards of Wiznan skillfully merge these two concepts, making one forget about time constraints. In terms of technique and atmosphere, they embody the spirit of the ’90s when sludge metal was gaining momentum, infecting the orthodox heavy/doom with swampy fumes.

The album sounds cohesive, with glimpses of chaos arising randomly and briefly to highlight transitions, infusing them with diverse emotions. At times, a wall of uncontrolled noise surges, but melodies, sometimes so bright and innocent, quickly disperse the dark clouds without descending into maudlin melodic death metal. Three of the musicians also play in the classical melodic death/black metal band Tyrmfar, so it’s no surprise that this affects the overall compositional mood of Wizards of Wiznan. Their traditional songwriting approach is vividly colored with ritual passages and hasteless psychedelic influences, heightening the sense of anxiety. It’s difficult to determine whether there’s more bluesy stoner or uncompromising death metal in this album, as all the genres and subgenres are harmoniously bound by juicy guitar riffs and desperate screams. Although the arrangements are not too complicated, the overall impression of the album is rather messy and raw.

The album consists of only five tracks, but they are quite long, presenting their vision of how to skillfully combine numerous extreme genres while staying out of the avant-garde realm. The lengthy occult introduction “Seeds of Light” with its psychedelic spark, explodes into standard black/death metal but with a sludge laziness, also seasoned with a very specific blues spirit. “Absolute Void” continues the adjusted pace, leaning more towards blackened death, but the lines with clean vocals recall folk motifs. The melodies here are generally brighter and more emotional. The southern “Feed the Fire” is slow and drawn-out, closer to sludge, even veering towards grunge from 30 years ago. The noisy and primitive “La sorcière du Vegenand”, reminiscent of their origins, lacks the usual melody, resembling post-metal monsters. The final track “Reign” is the most atmospheric and contemplative, peeling away layers through mud-trodden silks and predictable purism, attempting to confuse the mind while staying grounded in familiar values without crossing into the experimental world. Despite this diversity, No Light Has No Shadow sounds balanced, almost like a conceptual canvas, providing a thin thread through each song – from the mystical intro of the first song “Seeds of Light” to the thunderous and turbulent ending of “Reign.”

In the universe of Wizards of Wiznan, impenetrable darkness reigns, but occasionally a ray of hope peeks through, pulling from the stinking swamp into the fresh air, where light exists, not just unlight. No Light Has No Shadow is hard to call a sophisticated and aesthetic album unless you get butterflies in your stomach from the basement aesthetics with rotting post-plague corpses.