Pretty much like the current weather the latest output of French Record Label Altsphere Production starts off. Wizard’s Beard is a four-piece British Doom-Organ that not unlike their famous fellow-men (and woman) are very much into fuzz. At first it is even hard to make out where distorted guitars end and vocals begin! With vocalist Craig Hardy and Bassist Neil Travers punching in backing vocals, Wizard’s Beard gain a wide range of brutal voice power. These guys are just fucking evil!
Strings and drums are being tortured in a professional manner, giving anyone who is willing to risk a serious headache large space for headbaning. And like the weather it is a constant coming and going: Speed increasing, slowing down and all its might on you. A true force of nature one might point out.
Songstructures of the first two songs “Subirse el Muerto” and “Abandon the Wolf” are just flowing into one another. Then all of a sudden with the power of a thunderstorm the “Daemon” comes over you. Craig Hardy’s rough and mean screams might be placed into any other Death Metal formation, but with the overwhelming hint of horror that seems to make vast parts of the Doom Genre, this voice becomes an apparition itself. The night is over with the “Daemon” disappearing and the sunset “Seeth Inside”. Yet another track that delivers all the misery those four tired undertakers must feel towards this world. Hardly noticeable “Accursed” comes creeping and pretty much vanishes into “Harbinger” – an epic track with over eleven minutes that resembles all the greatness Wizard’s Beard offer. The final “ghost track” is a well placed conclusion with Hardy’s cranky vocals apparently dying…
Only one year after releasing their debut album Wizard’s Beard are back with a piece of work that is darker and meaner still keeping the relentless ethos of the previous recording.
Punkte: 7 / 10
