"Conan, what is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

Conan the Barbarian's philosophy of life (or should we say John Milius'?) must be very dear to this Albion trio devoted to the cult of the cavernous and abyssal riff. Extremely low tunings make Electric Wizard seem like a group of mentally stable, health-conscious people who love goji berries, painting a world that is harsh, ancient, lost, and knows no mercy. It is the spirit of the warrior boarding the drakkar, the raider defying death, riding alongside it. The music is extremely distorted, but not because magical plants are being celebrated; here, you can feel the sweat, the effort that numbs you, as when Schwarzenegger goes in circles pushing the beams of the wheel of pain over and over... doom DOOM doom DOOM and it seems to never end.

And there's more: the thirst for blood, the thrill of battle, the predator's instinct. The berserkers in action: mad, drugged by blood or perhaps by some plants and roots.

Conan shows us the new path for exalted Viking music: no more big keyboards and strumming hurdy-gurdies, the God of Thunder has bestowed upon us electricity and distortion, Tony Iommi's riffs.

The time has come to set sail and celebrate them.

Loading comments  slowly