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Celestial Wizard

Winds of the Cosmos

Review by Gary Hill

This band is based out of Colorado, but there music often feels out of this world. They create a type of metal that has extreme elements, but also plenty of epic, old-school and power metal aspects. The lyrics are of the fantasy variety. The vocals mostly land in extreme zones. This is fairly brutal, very furious and also so cool.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023  Volume 2. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review
Andromeda
Powerful and dramatic keyboards start this. It might lead the listener to expect progressive rock, but don't get complacent because this fires out into fierce, driving metal after that introduction. This has some cool twists and turns. There is one growl, but otherwise, this is an instrumental. It takes us straight into the next tune.
Revenant
This is a driving, powerhouse metal stomper. There is a real-steel angle to it. It also has some extreme metal vocals and some epic elements. This is a powerful stomper, loaded with energy, solid hooks and science fiction/fantasy lyrics.
Ice Realm
Even fiercer and meaner, this has some guttural vocals. It also has some great energy and classy epic angles. There are some great hooks, too. The chorus is catchy. The song has some great changes and is really quite a powerful piece of music. In fact, I'd consider this one of the highlights here.
Powerthrone
Keyboards get this track underway in mellow ways. It fires out fairly quickly into more driving metal. This is another with plenty of epic sound built into it. It has some great hooks, too. This gets into some of the most intense territory of the whole disc. It is definitely incendiary.
Eternal Scourge
Organ sounds that feel like church music get this underway. Rather than driving to pure metal right away, a distorted guitar joins, helping to paint the musical tapestry. It does get driving metal added to it after that section works through, though. This is another with a real extreme angle to it. The instrumental break on this has some particularly strong guitar soloing.
Steel Crysalis
I love the guitar soloing on this. The song is fierce and driving. The vocals are of the inhuman variety. I'm reminded of Cradle of Filth quite a bit on this screamer. It's another powerhouse on a disc loaded with them.
Undead Renegade
Frantic and screaming hot, this isn't a huge change, but it's so intense and tasty.
Cyberhawk
After a short percussive introduction this literally screams in. After the fierce introduction it drops to more of a droning section for the entrance of the first real vocals. This has some more real steel and power metal angles, but not at the sacrifice of the more extreme stuff. There is some killer guitar soloing built into this beast.
Winds Of The Cosmos
There is an interesting mix of sounds on this track. At over seven-and-a-half minutes of music, it's the epic of the disc. They put that time to good use, working through what is the most varied and dynamic piece here. There are mellower sections and more pure driving, pounding ones. This has some intricate mellow guitar work mid-track, but it screams out from there in sharp contrast.
 
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