{"id":83146,"date":"2020-04-24T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T00:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=83146"},"modified":"2020-04-25T09:25:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T09:25:51","slug":"album-review-the-wizard-subterranean-exile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-the-wizard-subterranean-exile\/","title":{"rendered":"THE WIZAR’D – Subterranean Exile (2020) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE WIZAR’D
Subterranean Exile<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nCruz Del Sur Music (2020)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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With a scorching, mystical album cover that looks like a scene from classic 80s kids cartoon He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe<\/em>, comes The Wizar\u2019d; a strange and peculiar brew featuring a vocalist who evokes images of what would happen if Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) had a stoned, satanic son with Manilla Road commander Mark Shelton (R.I.P.).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a strange warble, rather than a rumble, in the dungeon as this intriguing Australian band comes shuffling out of the catacombs with its fourth full-length studio record.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a band I know very little about, but I\u2019ve fallen under the spell of this seven-track opus that combines New Wave Of British Heavy Metal darkness with a slightly lethargic doom metal styling. Again, I\u2019m projecting weird, surreal images of He-Man\u2019s greatest rival Skeletor wailing to the heavens with fizzing staff in hand. But hey, just look at the names of the band members. Those interesting vocal sneers and guitar duties are performed by a chap called Ol\u2019 Rusty, and then there\u2019s fellow axe man Master Of The Night (I bet he isn\u2019t!), bassist Blackie, and drummer Maniac Frodsham \u2013 whose name sounds like an 80s football hooligan.<\/p>\n

Musically, this is an engrossing opus that comes seven years after the last offering, May 2013\u2019s Ancient Tome Of Arcane Knowledge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The title track opens up proceedings and it\u2019s just so damn authentic in its effortless groove; the combo sounding at one with the early 80s. If this had come out on Mausoleum Records back in 1984, and with that cover, I\u2019d have been drooling all over it, because this really does have that ancient, antique occult mysticism about it as it flits between that Manilla Road-styled moodiness.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing flashy here, just an oaken, esoteric nightmare slowly unfolding and plying us with steady doses of dread as one by one the tracks leak from the mist covered mountains, filling every crack with some steaming goo.<\/p>\n

The doomy trudge of \u2018Wizard\u2019s Revenge\u2019 is classic, doom-laced metal of stark and simple melody as the axe whines with melancholic values before a steady drum beat. \u201cThey can hear him calling from lonesome castle heights\u201d<\/em> warbles Ol\u2019 Rusty; he\u2019s literally that wizard or warlock who with skeletal fingers casts deadly spells. I\u2019m not sure if I trust him or his merry band of upstarts as they flash their steely cloaks and wield their instruments of dark magic, but I\u2019m in a trance, high on the smell of musty books and agog at the sight of spiralling, crumbling towers.<\/p>\n

\u2018Master Of The Night\u2019 isn\u2019t in a rush to introduce itself; the bewitching riffery again hints at those old Angel Witch demo tapes. Hints of Ghost do come into view beneath the foggy wisps, but The Wizar\u2019d remain on their own mystical plateau embedded firmly in the early, murky 80s, and just bewitching as they creak and smoulder away.<\/p>\n

\u2018Long Love The Dead\u2019 burns like the blackest candle, twinkling away with vim and vigour like some marsh spirit, and chiming in heroic fashion like some fully-armoured dwarf armed with axe, standing proud above the a pile of slain corpses.<\/p>\n

Seriously, this is epic metal that somehow refuses to be epic… does that even make sense? Everything about it feels cool yet aged; the band unrolling worn tapestries whereby a solo rips through the murk yet refuses to shine, and the drums pound but never make an intrusive over-statement.<\/p>\n

\u2018Evil In My Heart\u2019 rages with speedier menace, and is another splendid tale of darkness as I constantly glare at that album cover and am caressed by those purple wisps of smoke. Meanwhile, album closer \u2018Dark Forces\u2019 is seven-minutes of ecstasy. The opening chords are a sombre, aching whine before Ol\u2019 Rusty teases again with his echoing sermons of doom.<\/p>\n

The Wizar\u2019d refuse to gather any sort of pace, lumbering with effect rather than stoned boredom. Shame then on all these occult obsessed stoner acts doing the rounds, and lessons should be learnt from this understated gem of an album from a band that knows how to craft simple yet engaging fumes of doom and aged rock.<\/p>\n

The future lies in the past. All cob-webs and plastic vampire fangs are welcome in this club… are you brave enough to join? The Wizar\u2019d has spoken.<\/p>\n

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

THE WIZAR’DSubterranean Exile Cruz Del Sur Music (2020)Rating: 8.5\/10 With a scorching, mystical album cover that looks like a scene from classic 80s kids cartoon He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe, comes The Wizar\u2019d; a strange and peculiar brew featuring a vocalist who evokes images of what would happen if Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4473],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-the-wizard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83146","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=83146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83147,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83146\/revisions\/83147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}