{"id":39700,"date":"2006-03-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/wicked-wisdom\/"},"modified":"2006-03-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-31T00:00:00","slug":"wicked-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/wicked-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Wicked Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Wicked Wisdom is a high-powered heavy rock\/metal
\ngroup that joins the ranks of Otep and Synergy as being a band that
\nshoves their female vocalist to the front of the mix, making her
\nthe focus of their musical vision. In this case, the band’s trump
\ncard is that their vocalist, Jada Pinkett Smith (aka Jada Koren),
\nwho is married to one Will Smith.<\/p>\n

Now on tour with Sevendust and a slew of other bands,
\nI predict that Jada will bring an energeting persona to the stage
\nand possibly steal the show. But while it would be easy to dismiss
\nthe music on this release as the Jada Smith show, that would be a
\ngrave disservice to the work of the other musicians on this
\nrelease; specifically, drummer Phillip “Fish” Fisher, who is the
\nreal secret weapon of this quintet. Powerful double-bass chops
\ncoupled with driving snare work propel the band through “One,” one
\nof the best songs on the release. Basssist Rio locks in with Fisher
\nto provide the rumblings of a powerful united rhythm section.<\/p>\n

Kicking off with the overdrive push of “Yesterday
\nDon’t Mean,” the guitar attack of Pocket Honore and Cameron Graves
\nimmediately propel the band. “One” provides crunch that would make
\nDimebag proud, while “Cruel Intentions” slows the pace only long
\nenough to prep for “You Can’t Handle,” which toggles between a
\nsubdued part and an kick-in-the-ass uptempo part. Immediately after
\n“You Can’t Handle” comes “Forgiven,” which is the closest the band
\ncomes to a ballad. Combining sultry vocals from Smith and a driving
\ndrum attack from Fisher, this is surely the hightlight of the
\nrelease.<\/p>\n

“Set Me Free” provides a political forum for Smith as
\nshe raps\/speaks over Fisher’s subtle tom pattern and Rio’s
\ngrumbling bass riff. Smith asks “Women, what kind of soldiers are
\nwe if we can’t set ourselves free \/ who will our daughters be?” I
\nimagine that in concert this song sets up a monologue for Smith to
\ntalk about whatever is on her mind. The song is set up so that
\nFisher and Rio could hammer the riff they are playing repeatedly
\nwhile Smith talks.<\/p>\n

“Don’t Hate Me” has a lot of cussing and F-bombs that
\nare really not necessary. Also unnecessary is the annoying
\nscreaming male vocalist that provide a contrast to Smith’s vocals.
\nI know the effect they are going for and it’s been done, and it’s
\nthe weakest song here. The final track, “Reckoning,” is an uptempo
\nrocker that encapsulates everything positive about Wicked Wisdom.
\nGuitarists Honore and Graves are in perfect sync with Smith’s vocal
\nfluctuations, while Fisher and Rio set up the transition to the
\nnext part of the song.<\/p>\n

In all, Wicked Wisdom is probably tearing up the
\nstage on their tour. Being a celebrity and being in a band doesn’t
\nguarantee success, but the band going the right path by paying
\ntheir dues and it will be interesting to see where they go from
\nhere. They definitely have a solid foundation for a successful
\nfuture.<\/p>\n<\/review><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7706],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39700","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-wicked-wisdom","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39700","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39700"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}