|
|
|
|
| Gig Reviews... | ||||
Just witnessed your best live gig?.. send us a review!
WHITE WIZZARD Photos by Noel Buckley
Primitai certainly sound like they've benefitted from this stint as main support on this White Wizzard tour, sounding tight and full of energy. Promoting new album 'The Line Of Fire', this London-based 5-piece metal machine deliver a set of well crafted, powerful and epic sounding songs, with crunching riffery and quality soloing, whilst retaining a strong sense of melody.
The band's influences clearly lean towards the classic old school metal sound, with Maiden and Priest springing to mind, and the likes of 'The Craft' and 'The Line Of Fire' get fists pumping and heads banging down the front. A great reception for a promising band.
It's been pretty hard to keep up with the numerous line-up changes that have blighted White Wizzard's first few years, but tonight sees the culmination of the first UK tour of the now hopefully settled, long term line-up of this much talked about band. I was highly impressed with White Wizzard's set at this year's Download festival with Michael Gremio taking vocal duties, but tonight gives us a chance to see the band with new permanent vocalist Peter Ellis taking over. The set is a good balance of material from last year's 'High Speed GTO' mini-album and the latest album, 'Over the Top'.
'Out Of
Control' cranks up the tempo and keeps heads banging whilst the epic and
slightly darker 'Iron Goddess Of Vengeance' provides a highlight of the
set. The band don't let up as they pound through to the finishing line
with 'White Wizzard' & 'March Of the Skeleton' with 'High Speed GTO'
wrapping things up to a good response.
It's
impossible to review this band without mention of their similarities to
Iron Maiden. Musically, they're very similar indeed with founding member
Jon Leon's bass style replicating Steve Harris's galloping bass runs in
large doses.
Equally, new
singer Peter Ellis's voice is a dead ringer for that of Bruce Dickinson.
He also had a habit tonight of repeatedly shouting 'scream like you mean
it London!' in exactly the same way as Dickinson's trademark 'scream for
me London' (or wherever else he may be that night).
They now
have an eponymous song title in 'White Wizzard', and they even have a
roadie jumping on stage at the end in a White Wizard's mask, bearing a
striking resemblance to Eddie of course.
This is
where the band sell themselves short in my opinion. There comes a point
where they seem to be going beyond wearing Maiden's influence on their
sleeves and border on pastiche. A clearly talented band, they're capable
of more than this and should be striving for a bit more of their own
identity, which I'm sure will come a little further down the line.
That said,
as with Earache label mates Cauldron and Enforcer, it's great to have an
exciting young band with the talent, interest & enthusiasm to go back to
the classic metal sound of the NWOBHM which for me has still never been
beaten. Just a bit less Maiden and a bit more Wizzard please.
Interview
by Mark Taylor
Photos by Noel
Buckley
|
|
get ready to rock is a division of hotdigitsnewmedia group