Old Man Wizard is a Californian 3 piece band who, have been around since 2011 and are about to release their second album called Blame It All On Sourcery. Band members Francis Roberts (Guitar, Vocals), Andre Beller (Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals) and Kris Calabio (Drums, Backing Vocals) have put together 10 tracks of carefully structured rock with psych and prog influences mixed in.
The second track ‘Sorcerer’, (after a slow guitar 46-second intro ‘Beginnings and Happenstance‘) conjures up Floyd blended with Alice Cooper and a hint of Moody Blues. It’s a complex piece with proggy tempo changes and a suitably out there vocal.
‘Never Leave’ could have been on Golden Earring’s Moontan as it has a similar sense of the ethereal. It is easy to forget that this just a three-piece as they make a very cohesive and ‘full band’ sound. ‘Cosmo’ takes a slightly different direction initially with a heavier riffier approach before sliding back into Barratt days of the Floyd.
‘Somehow’ is an all acoustic short multi-vocal song which is catchy enough during its just over 2 minutes duration. ‘Innocent Hands’ starts like Muse, with upper register vocals and a rapid-fire, simplistic riff. The best is left until last with the brilliantly titled ‘Long-Nosed Wiseman’. A true heavy rock riff breaks suddenly into the their trademark slow, subtle Floydian verse style, before going back into that riff. This 10-minute epic shows that Old Man Wizard can put together complex, well played, genre-crossing music.
An interesting album, which bears repeated listening to appreciate the depth of sound and their instrumental skills – bass and drums, in particular, are spot on all of the time. OK, there isn’t anything particularly new here, but if you like Floydy, Musey, proggy rock, you’ll like this too.
