Wizzerd – Kronia

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · October 24, 2024

Wizzerd are a heavy rock band from Kalispell, Montana. They formed in October of 2014 and just recently hit their ten year anniversary as a band. Wizzerd’s previous albums include their debut 2016’s Doomchild, 2019’s Self Titled, and 2022’s Space? Issue No.001. They also released various EPs, splits and singles. The lineup of the band features Jhalen Salazar on guitar and vocals, Jamie Yeats on guitar and keyboards, Sam Moore on drums, Layne Matkovich on bass, and Wayne Randall on synthesizer, organ, and vocals. They released their fourth album called Kronia on June 21st, 2024. It is the band’s second album on Fuzzorama Records, based in Sweden.

Wizzerd’s sound has evolved since their debut record. The first two albums in particular, featured longer and slower songs with a more doom and stoner rock sound compared to their last two releases. The band transformed into a more progressive rock and sometimes traditional metal sound with more harmonized guitars and vocals in their music. The songs are more concise now especially with Kronia. Wizzerd has a much more direct approach to the songs on this album and stay clear from the long and meandering riffs.

Kronia starts off with “Vera Monte”, a short instrumental intro with a heavy metallic edge. It’s a great set up for “Ride The Lie” which is a quick rocking song that wields a powerful pace. Wizzerd waste no time on forging ahead with these first few songs. “Dire Wolf” is excellent and starts with a short drum beat that drives right into the rhythm. The minute and a half track rocks with a sense of urgency as the band tightly move along to the next song. “Dionysia” begins all together with accents and layered keyboards in the mix. The song has some cool keyboard and bass fillers with fantastic guitar leads too. The musicianship is much stronger and tighter on Kronia and the production of the album sounds fantastic too. Wizzerd’s touring schedule has intensified in the last few years and the band sounds focused and on point with all of these songs. As they’ve gotten closer to a decade as a band, you can hear a big difference in the quality of the music they are writing compared to those from ten years ago. Each instrument is in total command of their parts and the music all flows like a well oiled machine.

The fifth track “Sistere” features some spaghetti western type of sounds with acoustic and twangy guitars, almost country rock with drum taps and what have you. The interlude flows into the next song “Dirt Nap” with ease. Clocking in at 8:42 long, “Dirt Nap” is the longest cut on the record. It begins with acoustic guitar and features Jhalen Salazar’s mellow vocals as the song builds up from there. His voice is poignant and powerful. At around the three and a half minute mark, the song picks up steam and the band rocks the rest of the tune with groove and finesse. It’s the type of song that doesn’t seem as long as it is due to the interesting dynamics of the music. Wizzerd has nailed it on this track! When the song concludes, it blends right into “Hel”. The song is a revamped version of a single the band released back in 2001, called Space? Issue No.000. The new version of “Hel” is more amped up and peppier than the original. It’s a great song and a nice addition that fits well on the album. The ending of the song is cool. When the guitar solo concludes, the bass and drums carry on a few more measures until it finishes. The final song on Kronia is called the “Social Butterfly Effect”. It’s a no frills rager of punk attitude mixed with frenzied prog rock. Wizzerd calculate their interpretation of math rock on this lean, under two minute banger.

Wizzerd has put together a cohesive and creative piece of hard rock riffery with Kronia. The album is only twenty three minutes long but the band pack a thoroughly enjoyable listen throughout. Wizzerd’s last release, Space? Issue No.001 was excellent and showed a new direction that the band was going in. However, Kronia is more ambitious and amplified and is my favorite album thus far from Wizzerd. The growth in the songwriting has expanded exponentially despite the (mostly) shorter songs. Wizzerd are on fire with Kronia and I love the aggressiveness to most of these songs.