Review THE WIZARDS ‘The Exit Garden’

There is a lot of nostalgia in each of the eight tracks of the latest strike from The Wizards. It happened in 2013, when some guys from Bilbao found their common passion for traditional heavy metal and hard rock. What started with a first EP led to three longplayers and the fourth one was released a few weeks ago.

‘The Exit Garden’ is the title of an album that carries very well crafted music that has its backbone in the late 70s and early 80s. It is the warm and organic sound of those days that echoes through each of the songs on this exciting release. Guitarist Felipe describes The Wizards’ music as “a weapon against the modern world”. Well, whether the modern world is better or worse than the past may have different aspects. What is not up for discussion, however, is that The Wizards are very successful in transporting the listener back to a time when music had a much longer lifespan than many things today. Therefore it is important to invest some time into ‘The Exit Garden’, because these songs want to be explored. Equipped with great hooks and sharp melodies, each of these tunes also contains layers that might not blossom until the third or fourth spin of the record.

‘The Exit Garden’ is the place where the souls live and that’s one reason why songs like “Crawling Knights” have this partly psychedelic vibe. It’s one of the songs that is more anchored in a moderate tempo, while the title track is a full power rocker with great leads and solo parts. The opener starts off quietly, but things change quickly and the song moves into a heavy rock direction, setting the compass for the other seven tracks on ‘The Exit Garden’.

The Wizards have created a great rock album with some roots in the early days of metal. The guys from Bilbao have added their most mature and well-balanced album to their list of achievements, while maintaining their heart-pounding approach. Good stuff from Spain.