Wizardzz-Hidden City Of Taurmond

Picture yourself in a boat on a river...except it isn't a boat, it's an intergalactic spaceship called the SS Wizardzz....and it isn't a river but the deep,ever changing currents of space as you spin wildly towards the center of the galaxy. This is the sound of the new cd by the Wizardzz helmed by the multi talented Brian Gibson of Lightning Bolt fame and co piloted by Rich Porter from the eclectic Bug Sized Mind.

On this platter Mr. Gibson has traded his usual post behind the spastic bubblings of LB bass riffage for an excellent exercise in tribal and tripped out drum pounding that rivals even the king of pow chicka pow himself, Brian Chippendale. Porter counters this imaginitively with a warm array of soaring synth and deep space sounds that have the listener feeling like they are in orbit around spectacular gas giants and swirling black holes where hidden civilizations await your arrival. This music to me is about the journey...the feeling of constant movement towards something fantastic yet hidden. A journey that brings us to places where kings and wizards fight life and death battles on the edge of decaying star clusters...where music is magic and a gateway way to travel through time and space. All the listener needs do is put on the headphones...turn up the volume and count backwards 5...4...3..2...1....ignition.

Musically, if you had to define this in a genre... it hoovers around the land of "Kraut"rock, space rock, avante garde and even a little new age at times although this never becomes any kind of a Jean Michel Jarre pulp and rocks along quite nicely due to the tribal and energetic drum section. Definitely unique in its sound and deliverence.It definitely grows on you...

This is a 14 track cd with beautiful original artwork on Load records who are constantly pushing the envelope of releasing great music in our fair city of Providence. Write to them at www.loadrecords.com or head on down to the good people at Armageddon shop and pick one up!

Listen to Whispers from Wallface from "The Hidden City of Tarmound"

Throne Of Blood - I hope you fail miserably and never accomplish anything ever again

OK, so this is not a new CD at all...it came out like 6 months ago but I finally got my hands on one of these limited edition (100) CDs and I wanted to throw some reviewage up here. {edit: Just spoke with Brian from Corleone...he said that while the CD was due out ages ago, it actually just came out. Guess I was not as behind as I thought. }

First of all, there literally could have been nothing inside this DVD sized case and it would have been worth many times what it cost. The cover of this CD is a hand poured black latex relief that is...so...cool. For a day or two I thought it was an evil scene with a treeant looking at me with one googley blue eye but today I realized it was in fact a unicorn. Hmmph, even better. This scan does not do it justice but hopefully you get the gist.

Inside are equally cool liner notes and the CD. For some context, I should say that I kinda hate grindcore. It is not 100 percent universal, but yeah.

I am a metalhead mind you and have been for about 20 years, but grindcore just does not do it for me. Throne of Blood is basically grindcore but they have done something different. The female vocals (Pipi) are a pleasant change as well as the effects that are splattered all over them. The ultra echoed vocal track reminds me of pre-Fort Thunder RISD bands like Glory Hole and Jack Lords. It's sound adds a sort of Providence style creativity that allows it to transcend typical grindcore.

I think there are some 14 or 15 tracks on here in forward and then all of the same tracks (I think) in reverse. It sounds pretty good in reverse actually. You probably have next to no chance of getting this unless Armageddon happens to put some secret stash out. Give them a ring to see if they have any left and get this cd.