Your new favourite stoner rock band, right here, by way of outer space
The opening one minute 11 seconds of “Tides Of War” – the opening track on the debut full length album from San Diego’s Red Wizard – are enough to know that it’s pretty special. By the time they’ve done, the following things have happened: there’s been a throbbing bassline which has morphed into a full throated swaggering groove and then singer Travis Baucum has uttered his first lines.
To suggest that Travis has the perfect voice for this type of music is as self-evident as saying Axl Rose shouldn’t be in AC/DC, but it doesn’t make it any less true. It’s also fair to say that this is one of the best debut records in a pretty long time.
Red Wizard have absolutely no pretensions other than to make the type of music you’d guess they’ve been steeped in since they were kids. “Temples Of Tinnitus” is more overtly doomy and claustrophobic – and yes Sabbath like – than the opener, while “Blinded” is full of fuzzy grooves and rock n roll posturing, as well as being ridiculously entertaining.
Then, marvellously the second half of this album does something quite remarkable. Having introduced themselves and got their feet under the table, impressing with their impeccable manners and being all round good guys if you will, Wizard let themselves go and really produce the magic.
The title track starts us off on this, urmmm, trip, being 10 minutes long for seemingly no other reason than it dares to be. It goes off exploring other galaxies and is more than happy to report back its findings. Part stoner, part doom, part rock n roll and with a whole dollop of psychedelica, it’s wholly brilliant.
Then, just for good measure, they chuck in a three part epic that brings to mind Led Zeppelin. “The Red Wizard Suite” sees part one very much be their “Stairway To Heaven”, the instrumental part two sees the band jam for 90 glorious seconds as Miles on lead, David on bass, Casey on second guitar and Shane Kepler on drums strut their incredibly prodigious stuff. But the ease with which they switch in part three to the strutting rock stars of yore is what makes this so special. “Red Wizard’s gonna make you pay,” suggests Baucum, in a way that seems like it’s a threat and a promise wrapped up in a riff.
This is astonishing, and yet again the Ripple Music label has delivered something brilliant. Red Wizard would surely be a must-see live too, but for now just revel in the fact that “Cosmosis” is out of this world.
RATING 9/10
