Dorsetshire Doom mongers Electric Wizard fulfilled the sonic dreams of many of their devoted fans in Greece by releasing their doom assault on October the 7th at An Club accompanied by Sun Of Nothing and Heavier Than God. Even though this type of Doom Metal is not that extra popular in Greece, there were about 250 to 300 semi-ecstatic fans waiting for the doors of An Club to open and receive their R.D.A. of doom basic music!
The concert started with Heavier Than God, a really tough band whose energy got the crowd moving. The Pantera type vocals combined with heavy Doom music gave the audience an initial kick in the nuts. The show went on with Sun Of Nothing who continued the aforementioned energy. Having their backs constantly facing their drummer, they performed very well even though they had some minor troubles with their sound at certain points. They based their set on their self titled record and managed to excite the crowd. The only thing that really struck me was the singer's unusual (for my faggot taste of course!) totally nuts voice which was more like screaming and spitting the words out than singing them. Soon enough the two support groups had finished their appearancem the crowd started going more crazy and nuts in anticipation for the Wizards.
Ex-Lords Of Putrefaction vocalist Justin Obern fronted the band with prowess in a semi-suffocating An Club filled with Doom maniacs and generally fucking frantic and frenzied all around fans who never stopped moshing and surf crowding. The ex-Iron Monkey guitarist (now playing drums for the Wizards) Justin Greaves did an awesome, fucking fantastic job behind the drum kit as he was pounding and sweating all the time for the difficult and precise parts their music has to offer.
The audience was grabbed by the Wizards' playing but also couldn't lay eyes off the magnificent and truly beautiful second guitarist Liz Buckingham. Bassist Rob Al-Issa always looked so very, very calm despite the difficulties the band had to encounter especially with sound problems. In fact the amps of the guitar and the bass went out a couple of times creating an atmosphere of confusion to the band and the audience for a while. The sound was not that good at all times since the vocals and some lead parts were not that clearly heard!
The Wizards based the majority of their setlist on their albums "We Live" (2004), "Let Us Prey" (2002) and the fabulous and underestimated "Dopethrone" (2000). There is really no need to say anything specific about their setlist since the crowd would go definitely nuts with whatever the Wizards were performing at all times! Their sheer energy combined with the small space of the club really enforced their attempt and gave a huge, bombastic live performance!
One other very interesting thing about Electric Wizard is that they always maintained a really low profile before, during and after the concert which proves that they are really devoted to their music and their Doom 'N' Roll principles. Well, until the next time we get to watch something so unique, let us all have some booze and fall To Our Knees and Bow To The Lords Of The Dopethrone!
