Blackened sludge metallers Wizards of Wiznan set to release 'The Death Of What Could Have Been' • GRIMM Gent

Hailing from the alpine region of Valais in Switzerland, Wizards Of Wiznan first formed in 2019, with their debut release appearing in 2021 on MTAF Records – a four-song EP entitled Experimental Brew that was heavily influenced by the riffs and grooves of stoner doom. However, soon after Experimental Brew’s release the Wizards’ music began to take a decidedly darker turn. Released on Argonauta Records in the Autumn of 2023, the band’s first full length album, No Light Has No Shadow was a crushing display of blackened sludge, built upon towering walls of imposing, distorted guitars and raw, guttural vocals. Since embracing their inner darkness Wizards Of Wiznan have striven to create music of real depth and power – both musical and emotional. Bringing together haunting shades of sludge, doom and black metal they stare into the bottomless abyss of the human condition. And now they have drawn from the vast emptiness a new EP of unparalleled, soul-scouring intensity – The Death Of What Could Have Been.

For fans of: Amenra | Oathbreaker | Conjurer | Oro

Tracklist:

We are the Plague
Ephemeeral
Abyssborne

“A cancer gnawing through the marrow…”
– ‘We Are The Plague’ – Wizards Of Wiznan

A pulsing sound emerges from the stygian gloom, growing incrementally in intensity, gradually expanding…fracturing…a sensation of almost subliminal melody emerging from a chrysalis…you almost don’t dare to breathe. And then the dark glory opens up like the wings of a Death’s-head moth and ‘We Are The Plague’ is upon us. Raw, throat-scarring vocals, vast drumbeats and insistent, thudding chords assert their dominance, until the moth takes flight into an immense passage of melancholic melody, delivering a beautiful, damning indictment of humanity. Wizards Of Wiznan sing a funeral orison for the world with this stunning opening track. It seems almost sacrilegious that anything should follow ‘We Are The Plague’, invading the deep silence left in its wake, but ‘Ephemeral’ will not be denied; its layered guitars driving remorselessly forward over the measured drumbeat. There is a weight to this song that sits heavily upon the heart and soul. It unveils the intimacy of loss, an experience unique to each of us and yet universally binding. When the last rhythms of ‘Ephemeral’ slip away, as if into some eternal sleep, there is a pause…and then the heart starts to beat again and we turn from the approaching light and step into ‘Abyssborne’. When the full force of Wizards Of Wiznan hits in this colossal song the impact is staggering, the harnessed power overwhelming. There is a savage intensity to the vocals over the sombre nobility of the riffs and as the invoked emotion begins to drown you, the song, almost regretfully, proceeds to tear you apart. Yet when the desolation seems complete, a high, ringing guitar motif appears through the tumult – a voice of hope – a promise that if you just keep going, the future will still be there, waiting for you.

“One step through the abyss, one step through the end.”
‘Abyssborne’ – Wizards Of Wiznan

The Death Of What Could Have Been is a momentous achievement and its every sonic nuance can be appreciated, in no small part, due to the meticulous mixing and mastering of Tim de Gieter (Soul Grip, Amenra, Splendidula etc) at Much Luv Studio. The songs have a presence and a collective force that can be truly, deeply felt. When it arrives on December 11th do not hesitate to cross its forbidding threshold, for while the challenges it presents are great, the rewards that await are without measure.