THE WIZARDS - Rise of the Serpent LP HRR 658, ltd 1000, 200 x transparent electric blue (HRR mailorder exclusive), 400 x transparent piss yellow + 400 x black vinyl, gatefold cover, lyric sheet Sir Ian Mason - vocals George Dee - guitar Phil The Pain - guitar Baraka Boy - bass Dave O. Spare - drums 01 Apocalyptic Weapons 02 Destiny 03 Circle of Time 04 Distorted Mirrors 05 Age of Man 06 Strings Synchronise 07 Aftermath 08 VOID (Vision of Inner Death) SOLD OUT!

The Wizards come from Bilbao in Spain. They were originally formed in the spring of 2013. After having recorded a four-track demo the band started gigging for earnest in February 2014. Since then The Wizards have released two studio albums and toured mainly in Spain but also in France, Portugal and Germany. »Rise Of The Serpent« is the band’s third album. “We are determined to carry the flag for hard rock and heavy metal all around the globe and make all headbangers happy,” states guitarist Felipe. “We picked the name just because it sounded good, but also meaning what we do is kind of magical,” explains Felipe. “We don't seem to be very original picking names, but we will be the best wizards you can get!” The band’s slogan is "Occult Heavy Metal Warriors", what's that supposed to mean and how would The Wizards describe their overall musical style? “What we play is a totally unconscious mix of styles we all share and like. There definitely is a strong and obvious heavy metal background in our music, but if you scratch the surface you will also find some 1970s hard rock, a piece of the doomy element and even some punk. We like rock ’n’ roll and blues music in all their forms. We are interested in occultism, spiritualism and all the alternative religions against mainstream monotheism. We feel our music is a weapon against the modern world and that our band is on a magical war against it. We are gonna win this personal battle against this rotten modern corporate society with loud guitars and catchy epic vocals.” “Our city has many bands doing many different styles, but heavy metal or hard rock bands are not very usual right now in Bilbao,” comments Felipe on the current state of his hometown scene. “And there is not that many rock and heavy metal clubs to play downtown. Surrounding cities like Barakaldo are way more active and interesting than Bilbao. Barakaldo, where we have our rehearsal room, has a great rock/metal scene and many clubs to play. We wanna make Bilbao rock again, as it did in the 1980s, when the punk rock scene was wild and amazing. You just have to listen to bands such as Eskorbuto, M.C.D., Vulpess and Distorsión to understand how good the scene was back then.” Perhaps it’s indeed The Wizards who will make Bilbao rock again. The new album »Rise Of The Serpent« might turn out to be the most important tool for them to achieve their goals: “We are very happy with how the record turned out. The main difference to the previous record is that we used a different studio to record the demos. Our producer wanted a big old room to record the drums the old way. You can really feel the difference sound wise on the drums. We also used old 1960's and 1970's microphones and gear. We recorded the best album we could. We honestly think this is our best recording so far, both musically and production wise.” "Age Of Man" is the stand out track on the new record. Felipe comments: “Of course we love our Lizzy, and our UFO as well ha, ha. This is the boogiest song on the album album, for sure. We wanted the first single of the album to be catchy, rocky and with a 1960's poppy feel. I think we managed pretty well to make our wishes become reality with this song.” Bearing in mind the band’s slogan, are The Wizards listening to Occult Rock by other bands at all, and if so, is it only old masters like Coven and Black Widow or also newer bands such as Lucifer or Blood Ceremony? “We like all of those bands, but we don't usually go looking for some ‘occult’ record to listen to,” is the straight answer to this question. “We just like rock and roll music in all its forms. We are really happy that we are gonna be sharing a stage with Coven soon, it's like a dream come true. Lucifer's new album is amazing, we would love to tour with them in the future as we are big fans of Nicke's other bands The Hellacopters, Entombed and Death Breath. He is one of our musical idols for sure. We also love the most famous current ‘occult’ band Ghost.” Spain itself has a long and fruitful history of metal bands, starting in the late 1970s. Are there any classic Spanish bands of importance to The Wizards, like Baron Rojo, Angeles Del Infierno, Obus, Panzer, Zarpia, De Kalle, Trafalgar, or the like? “I personally love early stuff by Baron Rojo, Obus and Angeles Del Infierno, but as a band our influences come from England, America, Germany and Scandinavia,” says Felipe. “This being said, we gotta admit that Muro and Santa are very interesting. Spanish bands from the 1980s that every metalhead should check. But if we gotta recommend any band from our land, the Basque Country, this has to be Su Ta Gar, the pioneers of the genre, the first ones to sing in our language Basque and being absolute masters doing it.” Matthias Mader