Review Summary: this EP isn't even fun when imagining Gandalf singing karaoke.
From the album’s description, you can already tell that something is horribly wrong, or that something is going to go horribly wrong as soon as you listen to this EP. The description states it was produced “in the darkest days of winter”, and therefore, “the tracks capture feelings and thoughts, magic and fantasy which only winter can evoke”. This description is bs for a lot of reasons. First of all, feeling and thoughts are evoked via the human mind, and cannot possibly be only conjured up in winter. Also, how does one evoke magic and fantasy? Lastly, seeing as how the music within is goa trance, (a completely computerized genre, devoid of human emotion) how does recording a goa trance album in the winter suddenly make it so special? Clearly, they didn’t need to say any of that. All that is needed is a quick glance at the album cover, and we know everything we need to know.
Presuming that you looked at the neat album art, you should know that the album is all about wizards partying it up, getting wasted, and shaking their booties. Honestly, this is the only thing that comes to mind, and it leads me to wonder just what the heck the producer’s angle was with the theme. Goa trance producer: “Uh, yeah, in this scene, Gandalf gets a crazy trip and imagines Frodo giving him a passionate kiss”. Although it explains a lot, it’s not an image you’d want to see in your mind. Unfortunately, this is what happens when the only explanation of an album’s concept is with its title: Wizards Night EP. I could imagine this silly, upbeat goa trance to fit nicely in a cool battle scene where our main character flies around on a dragon, but that’s about it. In reality though, this kind of music would completely ruin most scenes from The Lord of the Rings, and make them into pure comedy.
As far as goa trance goes, the music is pretty decent. It’s beautifully produced, and definitely better than jumping off a cliff into molten lava. Unfortunately though, it all amounts to nothing. The songs are pointlessly long, and since they pound us with the same synth lines over and over and over again, the EP gets absolutely monotonous. You’d think that Paul Yelland could come up with something original for at least a few seconds during the eight to nine minute songs, but nothing of the sort happens. Instead, we get something like the intro for ‘Insomniac’, which is just an offbeat ticking sound that goes on longer than an entire minute. After all is said and done, Wizards Night EP is a horribly average, mundane, and unnecessary release.
