Wizard

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Wizard
Wizard - Logo.png
General information
Genre (s) Heavy metal , true metal
founding 1989
Website www.legion-of-doom.de
Founding members
Soeren van Heek
Current occupation
Sven D'Anna
Michael Maaß (until 2004, from 2007)
guitar
 Tommy Hartung (since 2020)
Arndt Ratering
Sören "Snoppi" van Heek
former members
guitar
 Sascha Visser (until 1993)
bass
 Christian Müller (until 1993)
guitar
 Dano Boland (2004 to January 2020)
bass
 Volker Leson

Wizard is a German heavy metal - band , which was founded in 1989 by drummer Sören van Heek. She plays classic heavy metal (or true metal ) with speed metal elements. The musicians come from the area around Bocholt .

occupation

Despite the more than 20-year history of the band, there were only a few line-up changes at Wizard. Of the six founding members, Sven D'Anna (vocals), Michael Maaß (guitar), Volker Leson (bass) and Sören “Snoppi” van Heek (drums), Sascha Visser (guitar) and Christian Müller (bass) are still in the band today ) left the band in 1993. From September 2004 to May 2007, Maaß took a three-year break in order to have time to study. Dano Boland, who had played together with Snoppi and Leson before, joined the band as a substitute guitarist. After Maaß returned, Boland stayed in the band as the second guitarist. On December 16, 2013, the band announced on Facebook that Volker Leson had to leave the band for health reasons and will be replaced by Arndt Ratering for the time being.

history

Origins

Band founder Snoppi claims to have been playing the drums since 1987. Together with Michael Maaß he rehearsed in the cellar of his parents' house; the band name Wizard was inspired by a computer game. With other underground bands from Bocholt such as Vebrifuge , Dr. Overdoze , Mandragore and Project X exchanged ideas and came into contact with other musicians. In 1989 this resulted in the union with Mandragore to form the band Wizard to play Thrash Metal .

Beginnings

The band quickly changed the genre to classic heavy metal with speed metal influences. In 1991 the band took up the demo Legion of Doom with modest means and distributed it on self-made cassette copies. The first live appearances followed. In 1993 guitarist Sascha Visser and bassist Christian Müller left the band.

In 1995 the debut album Son of Darkness was recorded independently and produced in a first edition of 1,000 CDs. Wizard got first interviews and reviews in underground magazines such as B. the United Forces ( "Uncompromising True Metal" , rating 78%).

Volker Leson wrote the story of the Four Thunder Warriors (an alter ego of the band) for the second release, the concept album Battle of Metal , which in turn was produced under Snoppi's own music label Bow-Records , after no renowned label was seriously interested in it interested. The album again achieved good reviews (United Forces 96%, Rock Hard 8.5 out of 10 points). The band sold around 3,000 CDs on this album and was able to go on tour as opening act for Edguy , Paul Di'Anno and Sacred Steel .

Since the summer of 2007, online shops have offered downloads of the first two albums for a fee. Since this was not done in agreement with the band, but Wizard could not take legal action against it, they decided to make these pieces of music available for download free of charge on their website.

First record deal

A record deal with the BO Records label enabled the band to record their third album, Bound by Metal, in the Bochum Mohrmann studio in 1998 . Health problems of the guitarist Michael Maaß delayed the recordings, so that the album was only released in 1999. With this album, Wizard achieved the breakthrough in the metal underground (United Forces 100%, Rock Hard 7.5 out of 10 points), 5,000 CDs were sold in the first four weeks after its release. Several planned tours and performances could not be realized. Within six months of the release of Bound by Metal, BO Records did not discuss an option for a new album, so Wizard was no longer contractually bound to the label.

Limb Music

The band's success led to a record deal with Limb Music Products ( LMP ) in early 2000 and the recording of the fourth album Head of the Deceiver , which was recorded by Uwe Lulis in Studio Mohrmann and Black Solaris Studios and released in 2001. The album achieved even higher sales and again good reviews (Rock Hard 8 out of 10 points, Metal Hammer 6 out of 7 points). The highlights of the band's history in 2002 were the performances on the main True Metal Stage at the Wacken Open Air and the Bang-Your-Head-Festival .

In the same year the next album has been Odin produced, this time in the Power House Studios by Piet Sielck , and published of 2003. In January 2004, Wizard went on tour with Grave Digger and Symphorce for two weeks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, followed by festival appearances. Drummer Snoppi described the album as "the most successful work" and the tour as the highlight of the band's career to date.

In September 2004 Michael Maaß took a break to start a three-year course. A friend of the band, Dano Boland, replaced him. The recording and production of Magic Circle , the band's sixth studio album, released in 2005, was overshadowed by many technical problems and a reduced budget; the album could not hold its own among the other releases of the time and flopped.

Massacre Records

For the production of the next album, Wizard switched to Massacre Records in the summer of 2006 and began a few months later with the recordings for the concept album Goochan in the House of Music studio with Dennis Ward ( Pink Cream 69 ). The concept - the witch Goochan saves the world from alien invasion together with the Four Thunder Warriors - was written by Volker Leson in collaboration with William B. Nuke and published as a paperback. The album was released in early 2007 and received good reviews , not least in the Netherlands .

After Michael Maaß returned in autumn 2007, Wizard gave live concerts for the first time with a five-person line-up. The eighth studio album Thor was recorded in 2008 partly by Andy Horn, partly in the band's own studio by Volker Leson and mixed by Achim Köhler ( Primal Fear , Totenmond ). The release followed in early 2009. Wizard played this year at the Magic Circle Festival and for the first time in Greece with Zed Yago , Paradox and MadMax .

On March 25th 2011 Wizard released the album ... Of Wariwulfs and Bluotvarwes . It is a concept album based on the trilogy about Hagen von Stein by the Wuppertal author André Wiesler . The album was recorded in the band's own Magic Hall Studios , and it was produced by Achim Köhler. The cover artwork was designed by Steve Argyle. As for every album since Magic Circle, the promotional photos were taken by Jochen van Eden, this time in the vicinity of the Grenzlandstudios in Bocholt.

Wizard started their promotional tour on March 24th 2011 in Cork and Dublin ( Ireland ). On June 25th, 2011 they played as a co-headliner in Třinec (Czech Republic) , as the opener for Mr. Big . On August 13, 2011, they co-headlined the Metalmania festival in Komen (Slovenia) for Destruction . At the Hammerfest in Prestatyn (Wales) Wizard played in front of Amon Amarth and Anthrax .

Wizard played on May 19, 2012 as headliners at Mojoes in Joliet ( Chicago , United States ) at the Raggnarokkr Festival , which included Virgin Steele , Broca's Helm and Skull Fist .

In September 2013 the tenth album Trail Of Death was released , which scored 6.5 out of 10 points in the online magazine Undergrounded .

Discography

  • 1991: Legion of Doom (demo, self-distribution)
  • 1995: Son of Darkness (Bow Records)
  • 1997: Battle of Metal (Bow Records)
  • 1999: Bound by Metal (BO Records)
  • 2001: Head of the Deceiver (LMP)
  • 2003: Odin (LMP)
  • 2005: Magic Circle (LMP)
  • 2007: Goochan (Massacre Records)
  • 2009: Thor (Massacre Records)
  • 2011: ... Of Wariwulfs and Bluotvarwes (Massacre Records)
  • 2013: Trail Of Death (Massacre Records)
  • 2017: Fallen Kings (Massacre Records)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i History (D) (from the point of view of Sören van Heek). (No longer available online.) In: www.legion-of-doom.de. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013 ; Retrieved October 12, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.legion-of-doom.de
  2. ↑ a b c d e Volume: Wizard - Biography and Discography at HardHarderHeavy. (No longer available online.) In: www.hardharderheavy.de. Archived from the original on February 26, 2017 ; Retrieved October 12, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hardharderheavy.de
  3. ↑ Kai Wollwert: Wizard - Sons of Darkness . Interview. In: United Forces . No. 4 , January 1997, p. 9 .
  4. ↑ Kai Wollwert: WIZARD - Son of Darkness . Album review. In: United Forces . No. 4 , January 1997, p. 28 .
  5. ↑ Kai Wollwert: Wizard - Battle of Metal . Album review. In: United Forces . No. 6 , January 1998, pp. 45 .
  6. ↑ Oliver Klemm: WIZARD - Battle Of Metal . Album review. In: Rock Hard . No. 129 ( online review archive [accessed October 30, 2013]).
  7. ^ News from August 19, 2007 on the former band website, archived on August 26, 2007, accessed on October 13, 2013.
  8. ↑ Kai Wollwert: WIZARD - Bound by Metal . Album review. In: United Forces . No. 9 , July 1999, p. 44 .
  9. ↑ Götz Kühnemund: WIZARD - Bound By Metal . Album review. In: Rock Hard . No. 146 ( online review archive [accessed October 30, 2013]).
  10. ↑ Kai Wollwert: QUO VADIS WIZARD . Interview. In: United Forces . No. 10 , March 2000, p. 35 .
  11. ↑ Götz Kühnemund: WIZARD - Head Of The Deceiver . Album review. In: Rock Hard . No. 170 ( online review archive [accessed October 30, 2013]).
  12. ^ Wizard - Head Of The Deceiver . Album review. In: Thorsten Zahn (Ed.): Metal Hammer . July 2001, p. 100 .
  13. ^ William B. Nuke: Goochan . Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2007, ISBN 978-3-8334-7775-1 .
  14. ↑ Redeemer: Wizard - Trail Of Death. In: www.undergrounded.de. September 9, 2013, accessed October 13, 2013 .