Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Dark Wizard

The Metal merchants of Dark Wizard were obviously under the hypnotic spell of the NWOBHM scene, but being Dutch they sort of put their own wonky spin on it. The music is a bit subdued and lethargic at times, but the overly dramatic vocals of a nutter named Berto Van Veen counter any short comings of the band themselves. Nothing innovative or overly exciting here on their one and only album, 1985's Reign of Evil, but some of you aren't so jaded as to not enjoy some no-frills fun loving metal once in a while, right? Funny, given the band's name and the album's title, nothing here is very dark or evil, and nothing here that remotely comes close to wizardry. Still a fun record.

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10 comments:

  1. benJuly 14, 2009 at 6:32 AM

    just found this blog. friggin' brilliant! so much i never would have remembered or even heard of. thanks a lot. did you ever hear the ep from the NY nevermore from the late 80s?

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  2. RyanJuly 14, 2009 at 8:31 AM

    I found this at a thrift store several years ago, got majorly excited, and threw it on the turntable expecting some ruling speed metal. Boy was I disappointed. I promptly sold it on eBay to someone who said they were a "Mausoleum Records collector" (must be a masochist, most of that stuff sucks!). I will give it another shot though, Aesop. I mean, a band that puts a dude in a noose and another in striped pants on the cover can't be as bad as I remember.

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  3. AesopJuly 14, 2009 at 8:40 AM

    Ben, No, but tell me more.

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  4. iSapien1956672July 14, 2009 at 8:53 AM

    ryan, not to mention the two other dudes sporting dick target mustaches.

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  5. AnonymousJuly 14, 2009 at 11:14 AM

    My favourite word from your blurbs:
    wonky.

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  6. benJuly 14, 2009 at 11:24 AM

    nevermore....was a NY HC band in the 80s and then decided they wanted to do a little more and went metal. bass player was frank bello's little brother, so the anthrax bit is there, but still good. released one ep on ill, which was a sub-caroline label.

    i'll send you a rip from my vinyl.

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  7. DaneJuly 15, 2009 at 8:37 AM

    Randomly, do you like Focus?

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  8. AesopJuly 15, 2009 at 8:42 AM

    I have only heard that song "Hocus Pocus"

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  9. BloguxJuly 23, 2009 at 7:43 PM

    This shit rules. It's nice to hear something that isn't overproduced to shit. That dude's voice is so ridiculous, yet rad.

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  10. meAugust 7, 2009 at 5:19 PM

    I started laughing uncontrollably when I saw the album cover, mainly because of the band name.

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