Gang Wizard

Formerly a trio, the cacophonous avant-rock outfit known as Gang Wizard now boast a line-up that is 14 strong. At least that’s what the liner notes for Byzantine Headache, the group’s first release for Load, would have you believe. In all honesty, it’s difficult to pull individual efforts from the collective vomit pile that this troupe have regurgitated for the benefit of the noise cognoscenti. Across ten tracks, Gang Wizard manage to channel the lightning-quick guitar hedonism of the Dead C through a thick screen of anti-glamour that is distinctly Los Angeles while simultaneously clamouring to the top of a heap of tossed out musical instruments. Vocals are frequently buried in fuzz and are unintelligible, more akin to guttural glossolalia than angelic balladeering. Four-track recording technology has the entire album draped with sonic instability. That Gang Wizard have released an immeasurable quantity of material on multiple formats for a variety of labels isn’t a surprise — these lads and lasses have skirted the sub-underground for many years. Finally coming up for air with Byzantine Headache, they’ve proved that the line between traditional rock music and outright clatter is so blurry that it just might not exist at all.