Odin

Once again I find myself among the minority, as I surprisingly prefer this to its oft-esteemed predecessor Head of the Deceiver. Riding an unanticipated (yet well deserved) upswing engendered by the lapping storm-waves triggered by none other than Mjölnir's might itself, Odin exemplifies a paramount and timeless argument to the potency of the synthesis of heavy and power metal. As per its enviable place in the timeline, Odin flanks the opposition with a quicker contingent of speed metal riffage, which compliments the pummeling, jackhammer-infused rhythm section in an ultimately endearing way.

The songwriting is compact and visceral as all get out, featuring a memorable balance of both lurching mid-paced romps and more acrobatic hit-and-run numbers. Add to all of this one of D'Anna's best efforts vocally and Odin's throne dominance begins to loom tall and imposing. ...of Wariwulfs and Bluotvarwes still holds the trophy for the band's best choruses, but this album's spectrum boasts a breadth more sweeping than what came both before and after it. For those pining for a slower bloodletting, landscape-razing competition-levelers like "Hall of Odin" and "March of the Einheriers" bring the hammers down with a more accentuated, piledriving allure that aggressively belies the punctuated melodic underpinning with great returns. Contrasting this paradigm are the obligatory speed metal crunchers like "The Powergod" and "The Prophecy," both of which hail back to the band's early '90s Teutonic origins in a convincing and endearing way.

No matter what velocity Wizard are working within here, a militant swagger clearly runs in and out of these tracks, drawing endtime mental parallels of the Ragnarök variety - which brings me to the narrative. With the clear exception of the unabashedly original, horror-centric ...of Wariwulfs and Bluotvarwes, Wizard proudly wear their Norse influences on their tattered, bloodstained pauldrons. Thor was a lyrical treat, but Odin takes the cake for the most coherent and punctual chronicle, this time covering a number of well-told anecdotes not limited to the demise of Baldr along with the epic yarns concerning the scandals revolving around Loki. D'Anna's falsetto-peppered vocal preeminence is tailor-made for these abstractions, ricocheting the listener into the conceptual appeal with great coherency and speed.

Being the final album to feature Michael Maass before he departed to pursue his education, one can see the logical exhaustion of Wizard's earlier breakneck appeal, with more emphasis instead placed on a more thematically-throttled disposition. Odin is a fucking heavy album more often than not, as even the more melodic examples such as "Betrayer" very nearly breach the space-time continuum in pure sing-along appeal alone. Save for the chorus is "Dead Hope," which runs a little thin by the time the song wraps up its six-plus minute runtime, these are all spectacular songs. The guitar tone is dry and respectably unpolished, working in tandem with Leson's sepulchral, grumbling lower frequencies to deliver throwback appeal in spades. The reverb-drenched scope of the drums round out the marching drive of the entire album, which rumbles your core like no other.

This is a great listen, and as stated above, Wizard's finest hour. Definitely one of the greatest modern examples of the German heavy metal scene, and a record that I'm sure will never gather any notable accretion of dust on my shelf. For a band as consistent as Wizard, proclaiming an album as a standout is never an easy task, but Odin has made my decision at least a no-brainer at the end of the day. Recommended for fans of Rebellion, Grave Digger, Manowar, and Paragon. You guys are going to dig the shit out of this one.

Ah Wizard, my guilty pleasure. I loved "Head of the Deceiver", but I found it basically indefensible. It was a so-bad-it's-fun kind of album. Between the sloppy playing, overdone imagery and the amusing lyrics it was all too much. That is why I am so happy with "Odin", as it has all the good things about Wizard's last CD, but only a few of the things that made me wince.

Musically this is a refinement of the Wizard sound, certainly not a drastic change. Yes there are still the blurring speedy riffs, the fist-pumping anthemic choruses, the embarrassing falsetto wails of Sven D'Anna – all the expected elements are here. And yet this is ten times tighter, meaner and heavier than Wizard have ever sounded before. I don't know how much of it is just the band maturing, and how much is the work of man of the hour Piet Sielck at the helm, but whatever it was, they need to keep it up. While a lot of the riffs and melodies sound recycled from "Deceiver.." they sound so much better here that I don't care, and I bet you won't either. The production is fat and the band sounds like they were actually sober while recording, as this is tighter than they have ever been. The riffs are aggressive and heavy, the leads actually sound like they were written out rather than just winged on the spot, and even D'Anna – while still not a great singer – sounds infinitely better than he did last time out. He still keeps using his falsetto for ‘high notes', but at least this time it sounds less grating.

But beyond the production and mix, the songwriting here has taken a big step since the last album. This isn't an album that shoots its load after 4 songs, it's very consistent, and the last three tracks are almost as good as the first three. It's not all gold, but speedy headbangers like "The Prophecy" and "The Powergod" as well as the slower riff-pounders like "Thor's Hammer" and "Dead Hope" (which may be the best song they've ever written) are first rate German metal.

Lyrically, these guys have abandoned the silly metal-barbarian worship of previous efforts and written a solid concept album about Norse myth. It isn't the most original idea in metal, to be sure, but they do a good job with it, and these are by far their best lyrics to date.

I am as surprised as anyone that this is such a solid release. I was a Wizard fan before, but I never expected them to produce an album this mature and advanced. This is by far the best work Wizard have done, and I am pleased that these guys got off their butts and worked at the limits of their abilities for a change. I always knew this band was capable of more than they were producing, and with "Odin" they have happily proved me right.

Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com

I don't know really. On Odin the German cult band Wizard plays really competent power / speed metal in an attempted concept album about Norse mythology. It's the second album on LMP Records and so far the worst. Compared to Head of the Deceiver the sound is much more conform, more generic too. The main issue still stands though - it's far from being as great as Head of the Deceiver. Such a rapid downfall is rare; it's hard to imagine that it's the same band. It hasn't got the same skilled song writing or inspired lyrics. The cover, just like their stage shows, is covered by fire. The music seems low on oxygen too, and rather sallow. Not in the ashen or dirty grey sense, the music is just paler than normal.

Take for instance the really fast drums. They are fast, yes, and that's about it. There's no real punch to it, no great rhythm, no double bass either if you expected it, no double hits, just the same (steady) beat al of the time. The guitarist faces the same issue. The songs are faster than what'd suit him. Even then he succeeds in making his six-string gleam in that classic way. You could call it melodic crunch. Considering the tempo, it's a great effort to pull these riffs off, no matter their simplicity. The solos, if we could call them that seeing there's only one guitarist, still they sound like solos - you get my point, aren't too impressive either. Influences from Maiden aren’t a bad thing - if you can pull it off and, now listen Wizard, FIT IT IN! But not all songs are at this imbecile pace, of course. Usually an album gets praised for its tempo-raisers but I think the best songs on Odin are the songs that lower the tempo. Take Dead Hope and March of the Einheriers. They are slower, more interesting and more thorough than the other songs, mainly because of the improved guitar work.

The bass actually gives more weight to the rhythm than the drums do. It's especially interesting when it acts counterpart to the fast drumbeats. Yeah, it's punchy, although a little too hidden for my taste. There are a few bass solos, especially towards the end, that mostly seem like a desperate effort to get back the listener's attention. Because it's easy to slip away...

However, too much speed for their own good isn't the only attribute Wizard can pride themselves with. They've got Sven d'Anna as vocalist too. His voice is really charismatic and he does wonders even in this awful tempo. He got to have lungs like bagpipes; he always has some air left to pump out, no matter the inexistent time to breathe, no matter the virtual risk of dying because of asphyxiation. Yes, I like him. I mean, he's not as technical as Lande, but having range from the darkest of the low tones to the high-pitched stuff, always with the same charisma, means an automatic green card. I really appreciate the fact that he doesn't use his high-pitched stuff all the time. I'm getting tired of castrates like that Hammerfall guy, never doing anything else. His power is almost, not fully of course, comparable with Dio's. In other words, it's rather good.

The Prophecy thru Dead Hope could be called the introduction. The speed gets the grip on you and then Dead Hope, with less speed, more good knocks you out. You have great expectations on what to come. Dark God thru Loki's Punishment is enough to kill those expectations. It gets boring as it doesn't stand out the slightest from what you heard before. No good complaining at consistency though. Beginning of the End is a little different, enough to regain your interest - in case you haven't shut off your stereo already. Thrash rhythm, great chorus and riffs seemingly taken from death metal with keys rose multiple times. Might be something after all.

Thor's Hammer is though its amazing and catchy chorus another filler. After the previous song we might just take it. Hall of Odin thru March of the Einheriers are harder, heavier and better. You wake up again, this is what you want. March.. is slower, more energetic, more stompy and is with Dead Hope as second, the best song on this record. Then End of All and Ultimate War comes along with bass solos, Judas Priest riffs and a little more speed. Good songs, if Wizard hadn't had to have all the bad ones earlier on this disc one might've listened to these songs more often. Golden Dawn is way out of Wizard's usual sound. Ask and Embla get a keyboard ballad, kinda llike a Rhapsody (they even got the bells ringing) meets Elton John song, except for a slightly worse quality than we'd expect from those. It's not bad, just odd and Wizard shows that sixty-six minutes, more or less consisting of conformity can end with a surprise. Fact is that you can hear that Wizard aren't really used to doing ballads, it's a rather sloppy one.