Celestial Wizard – Winds of the Cosmos
Release Date: 15th July 2022
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Swedish Death Metal.
FFO: Dark Tranquility, Firewind, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Galaktikon.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Celestial Wizard is brining something unique to the metal table. Grounded in power metal, the four-piece from Denver, Colorado mixes midrange singing and Swedish death metal style growls with their anthemic compositions and fantasy-based lyrics. Comprised of guitarist Nick Daggers, bassist Dahlia McAluney, drummer Tim Gillman, and vocalist Amethyst Noir, Celestial Wizard is prepared to unleash their sophomore record Winds of the Cosmos on an unsuspecting audience on 15 July 2022.
The Intro begins with synth that sounds like it was ripped straight out of a video game. When the guitars enter, they are accompanied by a death growl, but as you listen to the dual guitars playing a melodic riff followed by a section of galloping rhythm, you would be forgiven for thinking that you are listening to straight ahead power metal. Even when Noir unleashes his death growl again at about the halfway mark, it still sounds like we are building up to some typical power metal. The speed metal of Revenant does little to disabuse one of this opinion, especially when Noir begins singing in his midrange singing voice. Then the pre-chorus arrives, and Noir pulls out some death growls that sound like Michael Stanne of Dark Tranquility, and you know this isn’t typical power metal anymore. The next song, Ice Realm, brings Noir’s death growl to the forefront as it makes up 80% of the vocals in the song. For those who are skeptical as they read this, it actually works.
Whereas the vocals are not typical for power metal, neither are the guitar solos. Nick Daggers appears to be a more than capable guitarist who is able to lay down some speed metal with the best of them, but he eschews the flashy guitar pyrotechnics that make up most guitar solos in power metal. The lead in Powerthrone highlights this as well as any song. Daggers’ lead work is tasty and fits the song, but it is much slower and more deliberate than what is usual in power metal.
Things change a little more with song five, which is called Scourge. For the first time on Winds of the Cosmos, the music matches Noir’s Swedish metal style death growls. Complete with blast beats and atmospheric synth, Scourge shows that these Americans can hang with the Swedes.
As for the rest of the album, Steel Crysalis is more of a traditional heavy metal song with an anthemic chorus that will stay in your head for days. The verses of Undead Renegade touch on thrash metal, while Cyberhawk features a piano section that sounds choppy and doesn’t feel like it fits the songs. That said, it’s the only real misstep on the record. Finally, the title song closes out the album with a chorus that has all of the bombast and melody that you could ask for in a power metal song.
If I could change one thing with this album besides the aforementioned piano sections in Cyberhawk, it would be Noir’s style of spoken/shouted words that he uses throughout the album. He sounds like Trevor Phipps of Unearth when he uses spoken word to build up to a rather tasty breakdown. In the case of Celestial Wizard, the use of this technique just seems to fill the gaps between growling and singing. I would love for Noir to choose one or the other to use during these parts, as he does with the rest of the songs.
Overall, Winds of the Cosmos is a fun album, and Celestial Wizard’s use of death growls within the confines of power metal is surprisingly enjoyable. While I don’t see Winds of the Cosmos being the album that breaks Celestial Wizard into the upper echelon of American metal bands, I do think it will win them some fans, and it leaves me excited to see what they produce in the future.
(3 / 5)
