Smouldering Sinners

Smouldering Sinners, clocking in at a mere 11 minutes and 32 seconds, is The Wizar’d’s 5th release (or so I’m lead to believe). Having been a fan of Space Raven since their first gig, I was keen to get my hands on any release that followed “Cosmic Magnum” by those Taswegian doomsters. Different line up, different approach and a completely different kettle of retro-fish. Space Raven’s distinct bark-and-snarl vocals and the thick, dare I say modern, doom tone were gone in favour of Saint Vitus/Candlemass guitar and a sometimes nasal-intoning, sometimes anguished yelling. Initial fan-boy disappointments aside, I donned my flares, gripped my Crowley and started the tunes spinning.

The intro on the first side struck me right away as quite odd. Go ahead and try this experiment, you few who get this 7”: close your eyes, imagine a dusty tundra at sunset, with a lone rider silhouetted by the soft nimbus of the setting sun, and then try to tell me that ‘The White Ship’ doesn’t get your personal tumble weeds a-rolling. It has an uneasy, quasi-western (if organs featured in western) atmosphere that makes me think of the first minute or so of ‘Sanitarium’ mixed with ‘A fistful of Dollars’ and too much Whiskey. But hey, in the time it took to read all that the song would probably have played through, so get over it already.

The title track, ‘Smouldering Sinners’, starts off with a menacing and yet fantastically groovy lick that fits the overdriven tone perfectly. Despite this, the super echoing drums and the true-to-Sabbath foreground bass, it doesn’t achieve a convincing 70’s sound that other bands, such as Pagan Altar, have managed. That doesn’t really matter though; once the vocals break through the warm guitar groove all hope of said retro-fantasy is gone anyway. I don’t know how much studio time/work was required to accomplish that vocal tone, but I wager it was impressive. All that begin said the unique nasal style coupled with rather confusing (and I guess alcohol induce) lyrics has a unique allure. Hell, it even begins to make a kind of creepy sense, and in any case the music more than makes up for it. A good song with great riffs and very cool guitar-solo moments, it however falls short of ‘awesome’ due to questionable lyrical quality.

The next and final song, ‘The Wizar’d’, follows in the conceptual footsteps (in ancient footsteps they tread, you might say) of Sabbath and Candlemass. Sorcerers pledge and Sabbaths ‘The Wizard’ come to mind specifically, but is has to be said that ‘The Wizar’d’ is completely separate from those songs musically as they are from each other. It is just interesting to note that these Tasmanian doomsters stay true to these typical occult lyrics, especially menacing, strange or powerful individuals. Much slower than ‘Smouldering Sinners’, it opens with a quiet bass and drums intro, which is soon torn asunder by that fantastic guitar tone and a layered yell. The forbidding riffs that follow set a dark mood, this time supported by the vocals rather than dominated by them. They dropped the nasal intoning in favour of a mid ranged, rather monotone preaching. The verses all deliver: great riffs, atmospheric percussion and bass and suiting vocals. The lyrics don’t detract from the mix as much as in ‘Smouldering Sinners’, except in the chorus where they are strikingly cheesy: “We knew we were broken, OH NO!” and “Why did we mess with this man?” come to mind as examples. Less groovy than side A, ‘The Wizar’d’ captures you with its funeral-esque spell, which is only broken occasionally by the overwhelming, albeit kinda fun, choruses. Once again, terrific soloing and riffs.

This particular reviewer, who is familiar with both Space Raven and The Wizar’d notes the skill proficiency in both these bands, specifically where it comes to the mature song writing ability and genre knowledge. Sometimes the lyrics leave a lot to be desired, but the music in both is deep and inviting. They both represent what is classic or fundamentally attention grabbing in Doom and yet transcend the generic mass of Sabbath cover bands. In the case of The Wizar’d (the band), they seem to be able to convey a convincing and unique atmosphere that is both vivid and captivating, if slightly marred on occasion by experimental vocal values and approaches. They also have talented artists readily at their disposal, as we can see from the awesome (if somewhat ill fitting) cover art of ‘Smouldering Sinners’. All in all, an interesting release that promises a lot for the future from these young doom freaks. I happily suggest to any who are able to pick it up and spin it for yourself: you will be surprised.

70/100