Quick Hit: EARTH WITCH - "OUT OF THE SHALLOW"

Earth Witch have been producing and playing high energy, heavy metal doom rock since they first formed on Halloween night in 2012 playing Black Sabbath covers. An early EP, released on Halloween in 2013, was a brilliant admixture of psychedelic Black Sabbath doom. For their next offering to the dark fandom gods of haunting melodies and mammoth black-bottom riffs Earth Witch have stepped up their game, submitting a full-length LP of masterful musical acumen. The melodies are exciting and memorable, the riffs are an amalgam of searing psychedelic solos, subterranean rumbles of earth and stone, with characteristics of stoner/desert sounds sewn perfectly into the patchwork of deep doomness and ephemeral wisps of phantom Sabbath spirits. All of this comes to you in afterthought as you listen because the immediate response is joy, joy in experiencing music that masters every trait that we love about low-tuned massive, heavy metal. It's a forty minute escape, much more capable than any current virtual reality gimmick. It's an ode to past brilliance yet still a discovery of fresh raw power entirely attuned to primal urges of amplified sound.

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Album Review: Red Wizard - COSMOSIS

Yeah!

I have to admit I'm at a loss on how to begin without sounding like some overstimulated fanboy.

But I LOVE Cosmosis by Red Wizard. It ticks most of the boxes for what I love about heavy rock music. The deep, dark, melancholy guitar. Raw, edgy, unrefined vocals that don't resort to yelling, yet having plenty of range. Melodies, hooks, riffs, and solos that are fun, interesting, primal, and spiritual. Muscular, athletic rhythm with a thick, brawny bass and vigorous, virulent drums. Hell, there's even some bone chilling harmonica in places.

It's possible that my interest in this album, this band, is seated in the similarities the album bears to Ozzy's Black Sabbath. Okay, so what. That could very well be. But Red Wizard in and of themselves don't sound like Black Sabbath so much as Cosmosis does. Red Wizard's first release, 2013's self titled, 5 song EP, doesn't sound anything like Sabbath......well, except for the cover of The Wizard at the end of the album. Who knows, perhaps covering this song inspired them to create their own Ozzy/Geezer/Iommi inspired album. Whatever the case may be for their motivation the effort put forth by this California pentatet has knocked it out of the park, as they say.

Hailing from San Ramon, California Red Wizard are:

Travis Baucum - vocals, harmonica
Miles Von Ricketson -  lead guitar
Casey Lamontagne - guitar
David Wilburn - bass
Shane Kepler - drums

Cosmosis was released April 8th by the awesome Ripple Music and can be found on bandcamp. I highly recommend checking it out, and trading in a few hard earned dollars for some primal hard metal.



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