THE WIZARDS
THE WIZARDS “The Exit Garden”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Here’s a good example of a band that plays well and can be enjoyed, but has no real identity of its own. Everything these Spaniards do sounds like a rerun of something from other bands. They’re on the 70’s proto-metal trip and the inspiration from early SABBATH couldn’t be more obvious if it weighed 20 tons and dropped on your head from an airplane. That gets mixed with other “occult rock” bands of that era, as well as more modern version such as WITCHCRAFT, BLOOD CEREMONY, VINTAGE CARAVAN and the like. Toss in some folk and prog and you have THE WIZARDS.
You can jam to this for sure. “Equinox of Fire” is a real stomper and the extended guitar jams on “Crawling Knights” and “Holy Mountain Mind” might have you reaching for the tennis racket. But wow, it’s all been done before, like a million times. Just check out the borrowed riff that starts “Full Moon In Scorpio”...like, how many times have we heard that one? There are bands who can overcome the curse of over-familiarity with sheer chutzpah, but THE WIZARDS haven’t reached that level yet.
Still, the production captures that 70’s feel really well and “The Exit Garden” is a pleasant listen if you like the retro-metal thing. It’s just really devoid of its own identity.