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Red Wizard, Cosmosis: Universal Symptoms (Plus Full Album Stream)

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on April 5th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

red wizard cosmosis

[Click play above to stream Red Wizard’s Cosmosis in full. Album is out April 8 on Ripple Music and STB Records.]

San Diego heavy rockers Red Wizard make their full-length debut with Cosmosis, following-up a 2014 self-titled EP that rounded out with a harmonica-laced cover of Black Sabbath‘s “The Wizard.” That in itself should tell you something about the brazen nature of the band, and in particular, their interest in getting to the roots of what sonic heft is all about.

With the burly dudery of Travis Baucum‘s vocals out front, dual guitars in Miles Von Ricketson (lead) and Casey Lamontagne (rhythm), the bass of David Wilburn and Shane Kepler‘s drumming, they would seem to be arriving at their first album with clearheaded intent — but for all the booze — and what seems like it’s going to be a simple affair on opening track “Tides of War” becomes something much more stylistically nuanced as the record plays out its seven-track/37-minute course, remaining defined in no small part by its lack of pretense as it goes, whether that’s manifest in the proto-metallic three-parter “The Red Wizard Suite,” which closes, or in the more doomed “The Temples of Tinnitus,” which hits earlier. Rough tonal edges give a metal vibe, but the groove is heavy and Baucum‘s voice, though high in the mix here and there, as on “Tides of War,” adds a bluesy undertone that finds fitting accompaniment from his harmonica in the more swinging “Blinded,” which soon enough gives way to the 10-minute title-track; another on the growing list of vibes Red Wizard cast throughout their debut’s span.

That is, in fact, the album’s primary impression: Red Wizard‘s refusal to commit to a single-mindedness of sound where so many of their West Coast contemporaries find themselves leaning to one side of the “heavy” umbrella or another, whether that’s doom, stoner rock, psychedelia, prog, whatever it might be. The five-piece play multiple facets off each other in different tracks, and whether this is born of an exploratory process — i.e., if they’re finding their sound — or if ultimately that sense of variety will define their work over the longer term, it doesn’t really matter at this point, since what Cosmosis demonstrates aside from this breadth is that Red Wizard have the boldness to cover this ground while also uniting the material through atmosphere and songcraft.

red wizard

To wit, bass opens “Tides of War,” which then unfolds a rolling groove and catchy hook leading the listener into the album, but there’s a hint of something harder as well, and that will be the case as well with the biker rock revenge fantasy of “The Red Wizard Suite Part III” at the end of the tracklisting. In between, Red Wizard don’t think twice about the jumps in sound that the switch to a slower, drawling doom in “The Temples of Tinnitus” — near Candlemassian in its traditionalism — and the subsequent swap to start-stop swing of “Blinded” represent, let alone the psychedelic jamming that emerges in “Cosmosis” itself. They present the material simply, and on first listen, one might even mistake Cosmosis for a simple work, but while the bulk of its material is straightforward, the key to understanding it as a whole is in how songs play off each other stylistically, and that’s bound to come through clearer on repeat visits.

Further, the fluidness of the title-track, which finds Baucum echoing out a series of “heys” as Kepler‘s drums lead the way into the psychedelic jam, underscores the ease that the band feels on what, it’s important to remember, is still their first outing. Von Ricketson‘s guitar spaces out patiently in “Cosmosis” as Kepler and Lamontagne and Wilburn hold the tension in a classically heavy spirit, the band gradually building and making their way back toward a chorus, where the vocals are waiting to tie the piece together. From there, the move into “The Red Wizard Suite Part I,” the shorter instrumental “The Red Wizard Suite Part II” and “The Red Wizard Suite Part III” is undertaken with no more fanfare than any prior, the first part of the suite introducing itself with quietly progressive strums that just seem to be waiting for a flute to join in, and launching into a play between doomly roll and more forward-propelled rock.

Baucum shifting momentarily into a growl in the midsection before the song closes out with a big finish, leading to the Motörhead-style chug of “The Red Wizard Suite Part II,” marked out by its dueling leads, and finally, the “Symptom of the Universe”-style riffing of “The Red Wizard Suite Part III,” which mirrors the catchiness of “Tides of War” and offers an efficient if rough finish to both the suite and the record as a whole, the track kind of falling apart as it crashes out. Somehow, despite the ground Red Wizard cover on Cosmosis, that ending makes sense, as though at the end of a set, they finally decided to let the wheels come flying off. Fair enough. The brash nature of Cosmisis demands that kind of thing, and sets a high standard for the five-piece going forward, with multiple avenues of progression to potentially follow through, each of which hold promise in themselves in addition to how they might combine in Red Wizard‘s sound.

Red Wizard on Thee Facebooks

Red Wizard on Bandcamp

Ripple Music

STB Records

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Red Wizard to Release Cosmosis April 8; “Tides of War” Streaming Now

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 15th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

red wizard

STB Records has had this one listed for a minute or so, but it’s good to get some confirmation from the PR wire for the release of San Diego heavy rockers Red Wizard‘s debut album, Cosmosis. It’ll be out on Ripple Music on CD and STB vinyl April 8, and for a group making their debut, that’s some pretty significant backing to attain. The track “Tides of War” is streaming now and finds them deep into thick grooves and a burled-out feel, but the cover art for the record, which you can see below, seems to herald some spacier fare, so we’ll have to wait to hear how much “Tides of War” represents the offering as a whole. The band also issued a self-titled demo/EP in 2014 that featured a particularly dudely take on Black Sabbath‘s “The Wizard.”

You want information? The PR wire’s got some. No charge:

red wizard cosmosis

RED WIZARD: San Diego stoner rockers to release debut album through Ripple Music/STB Records | Stream and share new single ‘Tides Of War’

Cosmosis by Red Wizard is released worldwide through Ripple Music/STB Records on 8th April 2016

With amps turned to eleven and feet flat out on vintage fuzz pedals, San Diegan stoners Red Wizard know exactly how to convert raw hertz into high voltage rock and roll.

Newly signed to Ripple Music, their debut album Cosmosis is an exercise in pure hard rock indulgence. As teens plucked from another era – outta time and outta mind – their roughly hewn approach to proto-metal is shaped as much by prevailing Pacific Coast winds as it is their parents’ record collections.

Steeped in the pre-1978 sounds synonymous with Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Red Wizard have developed a sizable and almost effortless reputation in the Californian underground metal community as a unique and energetic live act. Helped in no small part by last year’s release of their self-titled/STB Records-approved EP Red Wizard, across seven new tracks, easily their heaviest collection to date, Cosmosis explores the depths and majesty of ’70s metal and contemporary stoner rock. Placing huge riffs, blazing vocals and bone shaking rhythms amid a wide expanse of progressive sonic assaults.

Red Wizard:
Travis Baucum – Vocals/Harmonica
David Wilburn – Lead Guitar
Casey Lamontagne – Bass
Miles Von Ricketson – Guitar
Shane Kepler – Drum

https://www.facebook.com/redwizardry/
http://redwizard.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/redwizardofficial/
http://www.ripple-music.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Ripple-Music-369610860064/
https://www.facebook.com/STB-Records-471228012921184/
http://stbrecords.bigcartel.com/

Red Wizard, “Tides of War”

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