Electric Wizard

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Electric Wizard
(Left to right) Rob Al-Issa, Jus Oborn, Justin Greaves, Liz Buckingham
Background information
Origin	Bournemouth, England
Genre(s)	Doom metal, Stoner metal
Years active	1993 to Present
Label(s)	Rise Above
Associated acts	Ramesses
Members
Jus Oborn Rob Al-Issa Liz Buckingham Justin Greaves
Former members
*Tim Bagshaw Mark Greening

Electric Wizard is a sludge metal/doom metal band from Dorset, England.

One of the more popular bands from their genre, they have a trademark sound which is extremely sludgy.

During 2003, founding members Tim Bagshaw and Mark Greening left Electric Wizard to form their own band, Ramesses.

Currently, they are signed to Rise Above Records.

1 History
2 Members
- 2.1 Current line-up
- 2.2 Past members
3 Discography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Often referred to as the "heaviest band in the universe"^[1], Electric Wizard were formed in 1993, when Jus Oborn left his then band Eternal/Thy Grief Eternal and joined with Tim Bagshaw and Mark Greening to record the split single Demon Lung with Our Haunted Kingdom (later to become Orange Goblin). The band's self-titled debut album was released two years later to good reviews, but it was 1997's Come My Fanatics... that really cemented their place in doom metal history. Extremely downtuned and bass-heavy, the album is often described as one of the heaviest records of the nineties. This was followed up with the Chrono.Naut split EP with Orange Goblin, and then another EP, Supercoven, in 1998. The latter saw a rawer, more "stoner" Wizard, and featured an old demo and a live track, along with two new songs. After some minor setbacks (Oborn removing his fingertip in a flooring accident, as well as suffering a collapsed eardrum), the band finally released their third album, Dopethrone, which many consider to be their finest work. Overall less "spacey" than Come My Fanatics..., Dopethrone was still classic Wizard, with heavy, chugging riffs and fantastical, Lovecraftian lyrics. The album's success prompted an ill-fated North American tour and a quick follow-up, entitled Let Us Prey was released the next year. While this was Electric Wizard's most experimental release to date, incorporating piano and violin, and a hardcore punk song, it was paradoxically their most formulaic and predictable, and received mixed reviews from the press and fans alike. The lukewarm reception to Let Us Prey further soured already strained relations within the band, and drummer Mark Greening left in early 2003, with bassist Tim Bagshaw soon following suit. In August that year, Oborn revealed Electric Wizard's new line-up: Justin Greaves (ex-Iron Monkey) on drums, Liz Buckingham (also in Sourvein) on second guitar, and Rob Al-Issa on bass. We Live, the band's fifth album, was released in 2004, and featured a much tighter sound, with Oborn's vocals a lot higher in the mix. The general response from critics and fans has been good, but most Wizard fans are happy that the band have finally sorted out their notoriously shoddy live performances with a stronger, more professional line-up. The band plans on releasing a new studio album sometime in 2007.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current line-up

Jus Oborn - Vocals, lead guitar
Rob Al-Issa - Bass guitar
Liz Buckingham - Guitar (also in Sourvein and ex-13), wife of Jus Oborn
Justin Greaves - Drums (ex-Iron Monkey, Borknagar, Hard To Swallow, Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine)

[edit] Past members

Tim Bagshaw - Bass guitar (now in Ramesses)
Mark Greening - Drums (now in Ramesses)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Album

Electric Wizard (1995) Rise Above	Come My Fanatics... (1997) Music Cartel	Dopethrone (2000) Rise Above	Let Us Prey (2002) Rise Above
We Live (2004) Rise Above