Before I started “The Daily Vault,” if you asked me what I
\nconsidered stoner rock to be, I probably would have named bands
\nlike Hawkwind, Iron Butterfly… and even my beloved Grateful Dead.
\n(C’mon, don’t act surprised. I was at the final show, and I saw all
\nthe nitrous canisters out in the parking lot, amongst other
\nthings.)<\/p>\n
These days, it seems like “stoner rock” is making a comeback,
\nwith all new faces in all new places. The sound is often similar:
\nringing bass tones, more plodding beats and laid-back but powerful
\ndelivery styles. Sometimes, such a combination is deadly, like when
\nwe reviewed Sleep’s
\nJerusalem<\/i>. (One chord change, that’s all I asked for… one
\nlousy friggin’ chord change!)<\/p>\n
Then, there are bands like Electric Wizard, whose 1997 release
\nCome My Fanatics…<\/i> has been released in the States,
\npackaged with their self-titled first album. After the critical
\nfirebombing I gave Sleep, one might think that I was totally
\nagainst stoner rock. But Electric Wizard prove early and often that
\nthis genre can be made interesting and kept that way for the course
\nof an album… though I do wonder if including the debut was the
\ngreatest idea.<\/p>\n
Oh, it’s not that disc two of this set is bad; it’s just that
\nyou can quickly hear the differences between the first outings of a
\nyoung band and the second effort of a group with more experience
\nand polish. But guitarist\/vocalist Jus Oborn, bassist Tim Bagshaw
\nand drummer Mark Greening do manage to keep both discs enjoyable
\nand entertaining – something that some groups today can’t say they
\ncan do on one disc.<\/p>\n
Disc one – the actual album
\nCome My Fanatics…<\/i> – is the album that is closest to true
\nstoner rock, with drawn-out intros and grooves so heavy they could
\ncrush a car. Most of the six selections on this disc clock in at
\neight minutes or more, but the tracks themselves are so
\nwell-written that the time seems to fly by. Songs like “Return
\nTrip,” “Son Of Nothing” and “Doom – Mantia” are both powerful and
\nentertaining, with all three musicians turning in admirable
\nperformances.<\/p>\n
If anything, I almost found myself wishing that more material
\nhad been included on
\nCome My Fanatics…<\/i>, which clocks in at just over 50
\nminutes. Electric Wizard shows that they have the talent to push
\nthis genre to a whole new level; it’s almost like they stopped just
\nbefore they reached that new plateau, leaving the listener hanging
\na little bit.<\/p>\n
Compared to the jams on the first disc, the remixed
\nElectric Wizard<\/i> on disc two is short, by comparison. Only
\nthe track “Electric Wizard” goes the distance in length, and except
\nfor a little spaciness at the end, it makes use of its time well.
\nOther tracks that stand out include “Devils Bride,” “Stone Magnet”
\nand “Mountains Of Mars”.<\/p>\n
Is listening to a group like Electric Wizard going to make you
\nwant to dust off the hookah and take a big breath in? Get serious;
\n“stoner rock,” while it may accurately describe some people’s
\nlifestyles, is just a term for this genre of hard rock. But
\nCome My Fanatics…<\/i> proves not only that this genre is here
\nto stay for a while, but it could well become an art form that
\nElectric Wizard is close to mastering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7490],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39187","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-electric-wizard","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39187"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}