Over the Top

Do you remember the day when ‘Smoking in the boys room’, ‘Balls to the wall’, ‘Aces High’, ‘Ace of Spades’, ‘Breaking the law’, and all those songs brought the FUN in heavy metal? Well, it certainly has passed a big pile of years since those amazing days and with the dawn of the 90’s, pop masses began to become more and more shit brains and nervous system paralyzed because of more and more utter shitty music that was populating media. With heavy metal it is quite obvious that Hammerfall, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Dream Theater and many others were increasing the level of complexity, song writing and lyrics to different levels, whether is dragons and knights, space traveling, Tolkien-esque topics or introspective battles with alcohol suites and many other aspects that quick populated the metal scene, not to mention musically really talented musicians all around the world. This, for better or worse is some kind of curse for new bands. I say it because we’ve forgotten what good heavy metal was about: having fun and partying out your life and your guts for the sake of heavy metal.

Within this category, sadly, I read how White Wizzard is mocked because of the lyrical content, well fellow friends, so what? They are not intending to go beyond the fun aspect of metal which is, well, living for metal, dying for metal and everything for metal. They never even attempted to write complex and deep thinking lyrics. If you watch their video clips you will notice this instantly. They are here to have fun capturing the magic of past innovative bands such as Iron Maiden, old Helloween, Fates Warning and too many others. I am also sure that elevating them as the true saviors of traditional heavy metal is our problem, and ultimately, the record labels problem, not the fans’. Thus if we do not consider that just as a way of promoting them, we will be caught in the middle of a nonsense war. They are not proclaiming themselves saviors of anything but want only to play their instruments with such passion that could grab me from start to finish.

I have also stated in the review for Kissin’ Dynamite’s ‘Addicted to Metal’ that it is always refreshing listening to bands that bring back the old heavy metal sound, not complex, not progressive or any other ultimate sub-genres fusion to the table, but simple straight to the point heavy metal with modern technology and still sounding ‘real’. That is all I need and I consider myself a picky person when it comes to new bands (no matter what category I want to fit them in) so I have accepted White Wizzard for what they truly are: a bunch of guys who play their soul on this marvelous album, even if this isn’t innovative, groundbreaking or everybody’s cup f tea.

Thus I have to praise White Wizzard for this absolutely kick ass debut recording. ‘Over the top’ sounds refreshing, powerful, catchy, and talented, with heart and soul put to use. I waited two months for this cd to arrive and the waiting has paid off. Musically this is not diverse but instead they crafted a sound reminiscent 100% to Iron Maiden & Fates Warning so if you are going to compare this band to them, you are seriously misguided. They have fun playing tribute to their old sound but they are NOT a copycat band. They have their own identity and the songs are powerful and superb without overproducing them.

In regards to the songs well there is enough of everything just as the other guys have mentioned: good riffs, catchy riffs, melodic solos, amazing vocals (a cross between Bruce Dickinson and John Arc as far as I am concerned), killer bass shops, and solid and tight drumming and I get simple lyrics dealing with the Iron Goddess of Vengeance, Over the top and things of this sort, which is fine with me. If I want to go to thought provoking lyrics then I’d go to Atrophy, Megadeth, Orphaned Land, Dream Theater or many others. The lyrics go perfectly with the rhythm sections and the strength of this album which is the catchy hooks throughout. ‘Over the top’ is a song that goes very much in the line of ‘Powerslave’ era, mainly because of the bass lines and tight rhythm sections across the entire song. The voice here is very reminiscent of Fates Warning’s ‘John Arc’ by all means. ’40 deuces’ follows the tribute to Iron Maiden sound and ‘The Spectre within’ sound mostly due to the bass drumming and guitar fills but the rhythm guitars and bass lines are Iron Maiden-esque. ‘High Roller’ is not that good due to overflowing of drumming patterns and strange tempo signatures, what it is actually really cool is the guitar solo.

This takes me to ‘Live free or die’ which I think is the second best track here with very solid bass lines and memorable vocal lines, not to mention the effective and anthemic lyrics. This is one of the songs that live should be a killer or die (pun intended) but the true highlight as far as I am concerned is the epic Iron Goddess of Vengeance which its structure is very similar to ‘The Rhyme of the ancient mariner’ and ‘Exodus’. The rhythm sections and riffs sound very alike Iron Maiden but the epic sense and magic atmosphere is a nod to Fates Warning. Plenty of soloing and vicious chorus sections make this song outstanding and it became quite fast my favorite track. The guitar solos on ‘Out of Control’ sound to me like Judas Priest. This song is really good because of the double bass drum and simple riffing. ‘Strike of the viper’ has delicious solo fills and the actual chorus has this ‘6-6-6’ thing, which, yeah doh! You guessed right, a 100 tribute to ‘Number of the beast’.

The most important aspect of their music is how they are able to re-create the magic of days long gone, and I am not talking about the magic of kings, dragons and knights concept lyrics of other bands. I am talking of the rather simplistic formula that endure for over 5 years back in the 80’s with powerful production and lyrics to have FUN and yeah, they remind me of bands which they pay tribute to. This is just another recording to me and I will not put them in a pedestal to fall in the trap of the pop masses, and then mock them endlessly. One of my long time favorite bands (old albums just in case) used to say: ‘Trivializing the momentous, complicating the obvious’. Don’t trivialize their approach to traditional heavy metal or think they think themselves as the ultimate hot shots and don’t complicate what doesn’t need to be complicated and enjoy 47 min. of pure (to the heart) good pumping music that brings back good memories of old days. Live free or die my friends!