ALBUM REVIEW: Hypercube Necrodimensions – Wizardthrone

What do you get when you combine wizards and Lovecraftian sci-fi horror with members of ALESTORM, NEKROGOBLIKON, GLORYHAMMER and more? Well, you get WIZARDTHRONE and their hilariously over the top debut album, Hypercube Necrodimensions. Straddling power metal, melodeath and underpinned by enough symphonic elements to make NIGHTWISH blush, to call it a maximalist experience still somehow understates the album’s scale and scope. 

Opener Black Hole Quantum Thermodynamics wastes no time, entering in a flurry of synths and squealing guitars before erupting into furious speed. Think CHILDREN OF BODOM with a resolute refusal to take themselves seriously and you’re part way there. Add in narrative elements that describe Lovecraftian horrors emerging from the depths of the cosmos to end the multiverse and you’ve got one hell of an opener.

Frozen Winds Of Thyraxia follows with a more power metal slant, soaring leads interspersing its tales of planetary and galactic doom. It’s just as grandiose, with synths that are more than a little reminiscent again of BODOM. The Coalescence Of Nine Stars In The System Once Known As Markarian-231 features blackened symphonic elements that underpin the blackened, rasping vocal work, and the leadwork from M. Archistrategos Barber is stellar.

WIZARDTHRONE set out their stall early and with great gusto, hardly deviating from it over the album’s course. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as their stall is by no means basic. The star-studded cast have crafted something that’s more than just the sum of its parts, along with a gimmick that’s just as over the top as the music. The musicianship is top-notch, especially the guitar interplay between Barber and M. Xaviculus Bell. It’s meticulous, with their dazzling duelling leads a core feature of songs like Frozen Winds Of Thyraxia. If it’s not already clear, their song titles are also just as over the top as the rest of WIZARDTHRONE; the science-fiction, galactic lingo of titles like Hypercube Necrodimensions and Of Tesseractual Gateways And The Grand Duplicity Of Xhul are ridiculous in the best possible way. 

The biggest success of the album is arguably also its biggest failing; their committal to such a gigantic, larger-than-life sound is great in the tighter songs that make up seven eighths of the album. Unfortunately, closer Beyond The Wizardthrone (Cryptopharmalogical Revelations Of The RiemannZeta Function) not only has somehow the longest, most ridiculous title (and there’s stiff competition) but also sprawls over 13 entire minutes. There’s nothing inherently wrong with long songs, but when your music is already bursting at the seams, there’s a fine line between bombast and excess and here WIZARDTHRONE succumb to the latter. It’s not bad in and of itself but it is simply far too long, too overstuffed and a slog to get through after the excesses of the previous seven songs. 

Hypercube Necrodimensions is exactly as ludicrous as you’d expect from a band calling themselves WIZARDTHRONE and promising extreme wizard metal; it’s all delivered with tongue seemingly planted firmly in cheek and with incredibly tight musicianship. It’s denser than a black hole, with layers upon layers of synths, as well as the vocals and guitar lines, without collapsing in on itself in a jumbled mess. That said, it’s often too busy with so much going on and the final song, despite the quality of its writing and performances, is a slog and brings down the rest of the album being simply too long. WIZARDTHRONE have created something that’s greater than the sum of its parts and ironing out any lingering issues could make any future follow-ups very exciting indeed. 

Rating: 7/10

Hypercube Necrodimensions is set for release on July 16th via Napalm Records. 

Like WIZARDTHRONE on Facebook.