Recently released this year is a slab of pure stoner rock fury, Red Wizard by Red Wizard. As far as 3 song albums go, this is monstrous! Its short, heavy, and has a really sweet payoff at the end. Click to read after the jump!
Red Wizard hails from San Diego, and are a 5 man troupe: Travis Baucum, David Wilburn, Casey Lamontagne, Miles Von Ricketson, Shane Kepler filling out their roster. They are currently on a rising star DIY label, STB Records, who just dropped several huge releases this year, including the new Geezer, Gage. THese guys have been stomping around the US since 2010, and show no signs of drying up anytime soon!
On the newest drop, Red Wizard, they keep it relatively short and sweeter than honey from a lion’s skull! As I said before, it is only 3 songs, but they throw down some serious weight across the three tracks: Piledriver, Rebellion, and The Wizard. Their sound is very southern, similar to Artimus Pyledriver, Texas Hippie Coalition, and High on Fire. Its rock with a spine and a pair of boots ready to kick some ass. They fuzz their chords, they overdrive their riffs, and they do it with superb execution. As far as an overcrowded genre of same-sounding trash goes, they rise with the cream.
The first song, Piledriver, seriously makes me want to cruise some deserted highway with some beautiful woman in aviators, who isn’t explained at all and disappears as quick as a desert heat mirage. It’s a very groove oriented with a kickass riff that just keeps you focused in, till that lead drops on you like a ton of bricks. Some tasty taps, fun fretwork, and brick wall layered rhythm and lead mark this as a perfect cruising tune for anytime of day. The stripped down drum sound rounds out the song, giving it rock solid bones to hang everything else on.
From there we get to the longest track, Rebellion, which does a little of the same work as the previous track. You have a great intro, which makes me think of the style of Stonehenge by Spinal Tap, but not in the funny way. It just puts me in a mental place of fog and magic, and then changes easily into the rock they do so well. This song its a true rock opus, you have the clean, overdriven guitars doing tons of string work, with the solid rhythm line never stopping in the background. And the leads just keep getting hotter, while using pickup-selector flicks, more of that sweet fret tapping, and doubled harmonic bends to perfectly blend everything together. The song is 6+ minutes, but fells good for the length. Another great track to have fun too. And it does switch at about the last minute, into a furious, driving finish to the song. Flawless victory!
And finally, the surprise I mentioned: They do a sublime cover of Black Sabbath’s The Wizard. This happens to be one of my all time favorite BS tunes, and they do not for one second let me down. They open with the greatest harmonica riff ever, and nail it like an apostle to a cross. THe whole song is almost pitch perfect for the original, it immediately puts a smile on my face. The vocalist, and he really is one as he sings quite well, does a whiskey burned version of Ozzy’s vocals, and its amazing. I love listening to interpretations to this song, and this one stays close to the winning formula. A fucking +.
If this sounds like your kind of party, and it really should be, check out the album at Red Wizard’s Bandcamp, and Facebook!
