{"id":18100,"date":"2014-01-17T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T00:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18100"},"modified":"2014-03-18T23:34:18","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T23:34:18","slug":"album-review-black-magic-wizards-spell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-black-magic-wizards-spell\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK MAGIC – Wizard\u2019s Spell (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACK MAGIC
Wizard\u2019s Spell<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHigh Roller (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This Norwegian band is the brainchild of duo Jon (guitar, bass, vocals) and the more atmospherically named Sadomancer (drums, vocals), and they\u2019ve decided to trawl the blackest depths of the 80s in order to produce their own crusty slab of retro metal.<\/p>\n

Traditional through and through, Wizard\u2019s Spell<\/em> is a nine-track platter which has taken its time to emerge. The band formed in 2006 and released a couple of demos, but seemed to have vanished in 2010. Now though, we have this 33-minute outing which combines solid, fiery and often cavernous mainstream metal with thrashier segments. <\/p>\n

After a brief introduction the band pounces with \u2018Rite Of The Wizard\u2019, which features a basic yet catchy riff and stuffy solo which march together with stable drums in anticipation of the vocals. Sadly, upon first listen anyway, the vocals are a tad lame and just don\u2019t have the meat to ride along the black waves of the percussion and rhythm guitar. There\u2019s a hint of the gothic about the midnight yowls and yawns, but if you\u2019d thrown this type of mournful wail back into the 1980s then you would no doubt have cast such a record aside. <\/p>\n

Oddly, the five or so minute rumble of \u2018Voodoo Curse\u2019 is the track which really gets the album going. I say oddly because it\u2019s an instrumental that \u2013 although a tad arduous \u2013 manages to conjure up a dark, ominous atmosphere as the drums gallop at a steady pace, giving the impression of a jam feel if anything. However, we\u2019re soon back to the generic with \u2018Thunder\u2019, which reeks of old Iron Maiden with its simmering stance, but also isn\u2019t afraid to touch upon the more extreme measures of metal as it nods to ancient Slayer<\/a> too as it progresses. The problem here, however, is that the band seem to lack direction and maturity, and only exist by merely ripping off numerous greater bands. <\/p>\n

\u2018Death Militia\u2019 rattles by, but just doesn\u2019t have the heart or the weight to cause any damage, and by the time \u2018The Ritual\u2019 has had its brief stint \u2018Night Of Mayhem\u2019 continues the metal revival trend. \u2018Night Of Mayhem\u2019 trundles along at a mediocre pace and tries so desperately to harbour a Venom-esque snort, but it just feels like a bad mimic that is confirmed with the dungeon brawl of \u2018Possessed\u2019 and closing tantrum of \u2018Embrace By The Occult\u2019, which attempt to lacquer the ears in soot but fail to stick because of their frail nature. <\/p>\n

Although Wizard\u2019s Spell<\/em> isn\u2019t a bad debut album, for all their stifled yelps and satanic conjuring, Black Magic just don\u2019t have the power or know-how to survive in a world populated by so many bands who are on a similar trip.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACK MAGICWizard\u2019s Spell High Roller (2014)Rating: 6.5\/10 This Norwegian band is the brainchild of duo Jon (guitar, bass, vocals) and the more atmospherically named Sadomancer (drums, vocals), and they\u2019ve decided to trawl the blackest depths of the 80s in order to produce their own crusty slab of retro metal. Traditional through and through, Wizard\u2019s Spell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-black-magic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18102,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18100\/revisions\/18102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}