Since the beginning of Metal with the masters of reality Black Sabbath England has always been a sureshot when it comes down to Sludge, Doom and Stoner Rock: Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin or Iron Monkey just to name a few. And who knows, maybe in a few years people writing about Sludge from England will mention another name along with these: WIZARD’S BEARD. This band recently released their first album titled Pure Filth
WIZARD’S BEARD’s first album (released on the Australian psycheDOOMelic Records) comes along with a quite funny artwork. At least it made me laugh when I first saw it, maybe not the intention of WIZARD’S BEARD but not the worst thing that could happen. Contrary to this the music isn’t something to laugh about: extremely heavy, mean and ugly Sludge that makes you feel like being ran over by a big lawnmower. An extremely slow, big lawnmower.
WIZARD’S BEARD definetely roam on the heavy side of Sludge. Although there are influences by “moderate” bands like Sabbath or Pentagram, WIZARD’S BEARD tend more towards sicker ones like Iron Monkey or Grief. Furthermore they often remind me of two bands that don’t have too much to do with Sludge but more with the unhealthy bastard children of 90ies Hardcore: Coalesce and Kiss It Goodbye. That is probably because of the excessive usage of those strange and sick guitar chords and the super aggressive, hoarse vocals. Most likely WIZARD’S BEARD weren’t influenced by those two bands, but the similarities in the sound are really astonishing.
The only weak spot, but only a minor one, is that the songwriting is based a bit too much on repeating the same few riffs over and over again. Most of the time this works pretty well, because it’s so mercilessly heavy. But at some moments it gets a bit boring. But all in all this album is a good release and I’m curious how WIZARD’S BEARD will develop in the future.
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