I’ve been away from the review world for awhile, but that
doesn’t mean that I haven’t kept my ear to the ground. In one way or another,
I’ve tried to keep my fingers on the pulse of the underground, and along this
amazing journey throughout the world of music, I’m still blown away by the
incredible talents that I find. One of the finds along the way is a little band
out of my hometown of San Diego…a bitchin’ three piece going by the name of Old Man Wizard.
And, unlike so many of the stoner and heavy rock outfits
gracing our musical landscape these days, these guys actually embody the wizard
motif in that classic Arthurian way where there was romance mixed with the
intrigue. This SoCal trio also mixes a great deal of that desert wasteland feel
that one can imagine of being astride a horse as a weary traveler passing
through one old west town after another. These guys do a wondrous job of
combining aspects of heavy rock with subtle acoustic passages, creating broad
musical landscapes that invoke feelings of solitude and internal struggle,
personal conflict versus external strife.
Unfavorable is
made up of six tracks, three per side of wax (which is a bad ass looking
package including an 11 x 17 poster and two-toned wax), but don’t think of this
as an EP. The songs are rather lengthy, though never feeling like a burden to
the ear. And, the songs have a very proggy feel without being weighed down by
bombast. It’s the kind of prog sound that reminds me of Jethro Tull or recent
Opeth outings, but not as lengthy and rambling…more similar to the
aforementioned bands in tonality and song structure than in instrumental
experimentation.
“Nightmare Rider” brings in the proggy aspects of the band
in an Opethian way…the song kicks off with a heavy groove and an understated
surf punk riff, then shifts seamlessly to an awesome overlaid textural passage
in the second verse. The guitar line in the breakdown midway through the song
reminds me of something off of Opeth’s Watershed or Heritage albums. But,
probably the coolest and most understated part of the band is their use of
vocal harmonies. All three members add their voices to the songs, and it’s this
song that is a highlight to this aspect.
“Highway Man” is the lead track on the album and sets the
tone with a reverb drenched guitar tone that gives the sense of a desert
highway, a lonely and desolate road where bad and ugly things can happen to the
good if not prepared. The lyrics depict the main character as a road bandit,
robbing and killing all who haplessly cross his path, and I personally find
myself captivated by the character. Albeit a stark description of events,
there’s just enough shadow play in the lyrics to allow the imagination to fill
in the blanks and create a reality of its own.
“Traveler’s Lament” is a slower tune with great layers of
texture. Francis Roberts (guitarist/vocalist) has these great moments where he
sounds like Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield), and with the vocal
arrangements as they are throughout the album, I can’t help but wonder if there
is some influence from the prog-meister.
Light and shade, heavy and mellow, Unfavorable is actually quite favorable to my ears. There’s a lot
going on in each track, some subtle, some more obvious. The musicianship is
stellar and, at times, ambitious. Old
Man Wizard is a welcome respite from the barrage of heavy stoner and doom rock
that’s bursting the underground at its seams. It rocks when it needs to and the
chill moments are always laced with an edge of danger and immediacy that keeps
me on the edge of my seat, waiting with baseball bat in hand to ward off the
monster lurking in the dark. Great album? Yes. An intoxicating and addicting
listen because something new always seems to pop out when least expected. One
of my albums of the year!
- Pope
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