The lineup for WIZARD MASTER reads as a trio, most publications cite them as a duo, many of their photo ops show four people-and so it goes at the Metal show. I'm going with three for the line up because that's what my ears tell me; I'm saying Doom Metal for the same reasons; and I'm calling their home base as Rome, Italy because bandcamp says so. On July 7, 2023 they released their second full-length album, "Ablanathanalba." Yeah, bit of a mouthful there. In its traditional form (ablana/analba) is a palindrome, referencing the Gnostic charm which is usually written in the form of a downward pointing triangle. Protection from evil and all that since it has no beginning or end. Thank you, Internet.

"Ablanathanalba" is proceeded by an EP ("Abracadoom") and an LP ("Phasmatis") both collected in a neat, boxed set called "Phasmacadoom." Yeah, they had a thing going there with the whole 'doom' stem. As evidenced by the album titles as well as the music on the actual albums, the band leans to the Psych Doom side of the spectrum-Droning, fuzzy, down-tuned melodies supplemented with spoken word samples from the 60's and 70's and nasally, cruel vocals dripping with evil insinuation.

Thematically, the tracks paint a vision of a wicked world wherein we, the listeners, go along with the narrator as, in the band's words, he (and we) fall "prey to the sick society that wants to control him, cannibalize him. Victim of mental illness he takes refuge in estrangement as a last resort in order to survive. Wandering aimlessly in his inner self he understands how weak he is but also how free he is, a Hell Rider . . . recognizing his own nature, he discovers the cyclicality of reality: Birth, life, suffering, happiness, death and, thanks to this new awareness, manages to make sense of all this madness." Yeah, so that. Again, very Doom.

Musically, there's not a lot of innovation going on with the album. Its strength and charm are in its consistency. This is straight up Psych Doom with no deviation, playing to all the tropes in the blasphemous hymnal from church bells, Hammond organs, spoken word samples, morbidly slow bpm, and all the distortion you can eat. Best tracks include the opening track "Hell Riders," the groove-laden "Funeral Boogie," and epic closer, "Tested By Death." Altogether, a solid recommendation for lovers of vintage Doom.