Wizard Tattoo – Living Just For Dying
Wizard Tattoo – Living Just For Dying
Garage Fire Recordings
Release Date: 26/07/2024
Running Time: 20:22
Review by David Barreto
6.5/10
Coming from Indianapolis, USA, we have the multi-instrumentalist Bram the Bard and his project Wizard Tattoo. With his very well barded things that sound and chime lovely in this Progressive Rock storytelling conceptual EP called “Living Just For Dying” which is not simply Rock or Progressive nor is not him alone since Djinnifer and Fausto Auerlius take part also in the songs ‘The Wizard Who Loved Me’ and ‘Tomorrow Dies’ respectively.
The whole record is immersive and transports you to a dark, lonely and dangerous place. Somewhere I can imagine very humid and sticky like summer on the east coast of Spain but without the smell of sun cream, the sun, the vacation vibes nor the happy people… just dark, moody, sad.
First track, ‘Living Just For Dying’ already gives you a good take on how the whole record is going to sound. Very Grunge-y and Folk with that acoustic guitar it straight away transports you to that lonely place where Bram the Bard is telling you in this story. Probably in a deep and dark cave hiding from the creatures of the swamp outside. The added strings and sounds of nature are a nice touch to create a more immersive experience.
Later, we have a new voice, Djinnifer, singing ‘The Wizard Who Loved Me’ with her haunting voice. Lovely guitar playing with some flamenco flavour here and there (Phrygian mode I guess is giving this vibe, I am not good noticing the modes of music, sorry! I will study more and learn songs with TABs less, I promise!) but I have to say that Bram is not the best lead guitar player and some of those bends are a bit out of tune but, since this is an old and tired bard playing guitar in some dark cave where he definitely can’t see the strings we will let this slide through OK? And we keep listening to the moody depressing song until…
‘Tomorrow Dies’. This is Black Metal. Fausto Aurelius is the voice screaming the shit out of himself while the fuzzy over-distorted guitars fill the gaps in between the blast beats. Somehow this song belongs to the rest of the record and it works. This is a different character of the story and because of that it is his own sound, and the sound is good. I found especially interesting the bass line on this song, because the slower parts with that bass line kinda sound more dance–ish but still macabre enough to be Black Metal. Do you get it? Clever, huh?
For the closure of the record, ‘Sanity’s Eclipse’ starts more Folk and less Grunge with two fingerpicked acoustic guitars and filling the sonic spectrum we have the deep voice of Bram. Very lovely cellos on the back start to grow at the same time as you get deeper and deeper into Bram’s deep voice and before you realize you are already into Psychedelic Prog Rock territory. Fuzzy, dirty… Good dynamism that transforms the song from something peaceful to something dangerous but keeping that beautiful melody from the beginning. Well done.
For this, I have to say that I am greatly surprised! This is not what I expected but definitely not a bad thing! This is fun to listen to, the mood is cool and I would definitely use as background music for D&D. Thanks for that!
The Good: Very immersive, nice atmosphere.
The Bad: The quality of the recording could be better and there are some execution mistakes but nothing to worry too much about.
The Ugly: Nothing! Just keep up the good work!
Hasta la vista, Ever-Metallers!
TRACKLISTING
01. Living Just For Dying
02. The Wizard Who Loved Me
03. Tomorrow Dies
04. Sanity’s Eclipse
LINE-UP
Bram the Bard (instruments, vocals on tracks 1 and 4, recording, producing)
Djinnifer (vocals on track 2)
Fausto Auerlius (vocals on track 3)
LINKS
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