If there’s any genre of heavy music that seems free of the reigns of pretension, it has to be the bong-filled world of stoner rock. A type of music that relies heavily on the instrumentation and production of ’70s hard rock and metal, stoner rock is meant for the listener to sink into the stain-covered cushions of the couch as they slowly nod a sluggish head in honor of The Groove. For decades bands have been trying to master that over-driven, four to the floor groove, to various levels of success. For every Kyuss, Sleep, and Red Fang that have developed a dependable algorithm for developing said groove, there are hundreds of bands that have come and gone, happy to be confined to the walls of the practice space and a few five-band showcases at the local Lion’s Club hall. In other words, it’s groove this and groove that and Lyon, France band Wizard Must Die have nailed their own version of this ever elusive white whale with the single “The Breach” from their upcoming album L’or des Fous.
The video for the single is much like the bands approach to song-writing: it’s a clever exploration of different media, a bizarre conglomeration of ideas and themes all crammed into a psychedelic, swirling distorted seven minutes of blistering stoner grooves. According to the Wizard Must Die,
‘“The Breach” is a journey of initiation. A journey we all take one day. Where you lose yourself, find yourself, but emerge changed for the rest of your life. This pilot’s story is a perfect example. The quest for his absolute, his ‘gold,’ will drive him to brave a thousand dangers, to give the best of himself, even if it means forgetting himself and navigating between passions and regrets.‘
Flying sea turtles twist and turn around a mysterious pyramid like structure (and this only after a prop plane is piloted into the mouth of a god over the Bermuda Triangle), an homage to the band’s 2018 album In the Land of the Dead Turtles. Our protagonist finds himself in a desert of severed limbs, crawling to the hovel of an evil demigod who beckons him to explore his own demise. There’s a chalice and a grail with nuggets of gold and trinkets – and a black and white photo of his family, only to end in mystery, the song disappearing into the credits as a ominous combination of strings and piano end the video. It’s an audacious, gloriously ridiculous paean to all the things that make this genre great.
The song itself has everything you’d want from a great stoner rock tune. While it’s ambitious in its nature, the band hasn’t quite let the prog hooks sink their barbs in; while there is some Elder peeking through the riffs, there’s a simplicity to the composition that makes it more poppy than proggy. But pop this is not. The song pummels from overly-distorted guitars, deep guttural bass, and pounding drums to black metal atmospherics to Baroness-like melodies that make the seven minutes, indeed, seem like a journey to “The Breach”. If the single is any indication of what L’or des Fous has in store, we might just add another disc to the elite group of long-haired pot-smokers that have crafted the perfect tributes to The Groove. Wizard Must Die aren’t just sitting idly by while the rest of the world teeters on the edge of self-destruction. They’re providing the soundtrack for our demise.
L’or des Fous will be released on November 15th by Klonosphere Records. Show the band some love: pre-order the album from Bandcamp and follow them on Instagram.
