Euphoria
Nanotech
Independent
Last night the Wizard was reflecting on his Life in Metal, going back over the decades and thinking about his immersion into the Metal world. It started with 70’s Hard Rock as a kid, morphing into bands like the Crue, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, and then Maiden, Priest, and Ozzy. Then he went back and discovered Sabbath (gods help us!) and ran headlong into Queensryche and then Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, and all the Thrash one could absorb. This led into the 90’s and a veritable explosion of Black Metal and Swedish Death and beyond, onto a new century, when all these various forms and subgenres were mixing and molding and nothing was sacred, everything was moving forward, morphing and changing. Metal is not nearly what it was when the Wizard began his journey, and thank the gods that it is not. Metal is a beautiful thing, and it always manages to surprise, break your heart, and blossom in unexpected ways.
This all leads, in a philosophical kind of way, to the new album by Michigan Thrash Metal band Euphoria. The Wizard has been jamming their tunes lately, and the sounds that have come scorching out of the speakers has helped cause a bit of this reflection, this staring into the Magic Mirror, this remembering of What Once Was and What Is To Be. And it’s been a kind and wonderful experience.
Euphoria do nothing new. They do not Reinvent the Steel, they do not cut you down with Swords and Tequila, but like All Men They Play On 10 and, most importantly, they Carry On. This is another fine metal release in an ocean of great albums and is one that can easily get lost in the shuffle, given that Euphoria is not a band on the tips of anyone’s tongues or getting much airplay outside of their native Detroit. But they should. Euphoria have delivered a classic Metal album, full of Thrash and eccentric Voidvodian Sci-Fi Cyborg touches that will make any fan of the genre grin with pleasure. And the Riffs! The true measure of a band is if they deliver the mighty Riff and Ephoria do, in spades, with a sick, thick sound that is a true treat. This is how guitars are supposed to crunch. The drumming and the singing tear it up, as well, and what we get is a swirling mass of madness, six songs that sound like they’re simultaneously from the past and the future, all at once. There’s a bunch of techno-babble going on here, stuff about machines and man and control and freedom, and it all blends in with those mighty guitars. This is the stuff to get excited about.
Take for instance opener “Electro Hypnosis.” We get two minutes of in your face Thrash, the song rumbling and dancing and chiming, crunching and kicking. Fantastic. And then about three minutes in, the song takes That Turn, and all Metalheads know what the Wizard speaks of when he mentions That Turn. The song switches up and suddenly your head is down and it’s banging and you’re a slave to the groove and the power and the might. It’s an instinctive and primal reaction, the very kind that makes Metal hearts sing with wild abandon. These are the moments we live for, that helpless loss and submission to the Riff. The whole album is ripe with these kinds of moments.
Will Nanotech change your life? Probably not. Will it turn the Metal world on its ear? Probably not. Does is blaze a path into the future? Nope. But it will make you grin, and it will make you Bang Your Head, and it will probably remind you why you’re in this glorious world in the first place. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Go grab a copy and enjoy yourself, for god’s sake. The days are far too short and the nights far too long. Euphoria Deliver the Goods, as they say, and they deliver them in spades.
Three Out of Five Wands
The Wizard Has Spoken!
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