The debut album from REBEL WIZARD, ‘Triumph Of Gloom’ – a riff heavy, anthemic headbanger that effortlessly brings the epic and the grim – a triumphant fusion of fist-pounding Maiden and Bathory, perhaps?! Rebel Wizard’s negative metal is an anarchic alchemical process of outsider energies respecting the power of traditional triumphant metal into a unique sound to smash out the coerced gloom and banality of our times. It is a creation from Australian musician, NKSV, also from the long running black metal/noise band Nekrasov. NKSV started the band in 2012, released his first demo in 2013 and since then has self-released a steady flow of music including 5 EPs, a mini album and this year’s Triumph of Gloom album which has received a ton of praise from the press all over the world. Rebel Wizard can’t be summed up with one simple label. It’s not black or thrash metal but firmly rooted in both. There’s a touch of NWOBHM in there as well the epicness of power metal. Many bands try to combine different genres of metal, some fail, some succeed, but what makes Rebel Wizard strive is it’s done from instinct. 30 years of listening to all genres of metal has given NKSV a vast arsenal to choose from. However it’s not so much the music he’s going after, but rather the feeling. Remember the first time you heard Maiden, Blind Guardian, Rainbow, Emperor, etc? NKSV takes those sentiments and then grabs the guitar and puts them into music. The result is fresh and full of emotion, probably words NKSV would not like associated with his music, but can’t be avoided when approaching writing this way. The description he does like however is aforementioned “Negative Metal”. Not so much on the sense of depression of nilhism, but more so of the negation of self. Self negation has been defined as of doing away with categories that limit oneself and others from one’s full potential. Labels and tags hinder the arts more than they assist in the appreciation of it, which is something Rebel Wizard seeks to destroy with triumphant pounding fists.
