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Wizard - Odin


*
=Staff's pick

The Prophecy*
Betrayer*
Dead Hope
Dark God*
Loki's Punishment*
The Beginning
Thor's Hammer*
Hall Of Odin
The Powergod*
The March Of The Einheriers
End Of All


Genre Heavy Metal
Sven D'Anna
Vocals
Tracks 11
Michael Maass
Guitar
Runningtime 52 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Arise Records
V. Leson
Bass
Release 24 March 2003
Snoppi
Drums
Country Germany
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Majesty, Manowar, Iron Savior

I have always adored Wizard's simple, yet powerful and catchy metal and this time they have really overdone themselves. The concept is still the same - simple, galopping or driven riffs building up to a melodic refrain, but this time they have worked hard on the arrangements and this feels and sound very fresh. The sound is very good, and mighty choirs are backing up the vocals and makes it sound as majestic as they want it to, since they this time are bringing on stories about the ancient, nordic gods of the likes of Thor, Odin and the rest.

Metal doesn't have to be more complicated than this - in fact everytime I come across an album like this I always fall in love with the style again, and the - often - too pompous epic metalbands with synths, moviesoundtrack-like arrangements suddenly seem too be to much. This kind of music is the reason to why most of us started to love metal once upon a time. Plenty of doublebass drums, 3- or max 4 chord riffs, and melodies that affect you from second one.

We get the best of most elements here - the fast beginning with both power, pace and melody, and the more epic and galopping tunes like Dark God and Thor's Hammer that are all splendid and stick in your head immediatly. Even though this is not really comparable to Manowar they have to be mentioned in this context, but Wizard sure kick their sorry asses by far, because this is True Metal more than anything.

Variation is the only thing that I feel I can cast critisism on, since they stick to their narrow and beaten road, but who needs anything else when music sounds this good? Wizard are Wizard, and I hope they'll stay that way for a long time to come!

See also review of: Magic Circle , Head Of The Deceiver

Production
Vocals
Compositions

8

8,5

8

 
Summary



8 chalices of 10 - Tommy

Related links:

www.legion-of-doom.de