Wooden Wand and The World War IV
Wooden Wand and The World War IV
Psych rock
???1/2
Wooden Wand and The World War IV’s self-titled album employes eerie guitar melodies and disturbing lyrics in a complex undertaking of dark themes that plague the world.
James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand), who is known for weaving in and out of all types of folk and rock genres, joined forces with The World War IV, a group of musicians from Birmingham, Ala., for this release.
The LP starts out with “Someday This Child Will Die,” a song that sounds as eerie as the title suggests. Like most of the tracks, hypnotic riffs take center stage in an ominous refrain. As the guitars drag listeners into a sedated state, Toth’s lasting psychedelic voice sings about how “someday this baby will not return home.”
The heavy music is numbingly intoxicating in its paradoxically simple and complex composition.
“Our Father the Monster” seems to define the album’s intentions and capabilities. The album’s longest tune shows off the guitarists’ skills and breadth after stringing listeners along with simple chord progressions for the first five and a half minutes.
Out of nowhere, Toth’s vocals, along with the backing vocals, rise and meet the beginning of the two erupting guitar parts. The well-crafted parts split and reunite at all the right moments and present so much diversity for the last three minutes that it’s hard to pay attention to anything else.
Surprisingly, the repetitive nature of the grim music never gets tiring due to Toth’s astute delivery of subtle directional changes and his balance of the music itself and the message it delivers.
Any departure from the haunting melodies is almost an unwelcome change. “Human Instrument,” a short two-minute song that puts an acoustic guitar up front, seems out of place and random.
It sounds like a guitarist playing random chord and note progressions in his bedroom while trying to piece a song together. It can be endearing in that sense, but as a whole it doesn’t leave a lasting impression.
Wooden Wand and The World War IV have found a sound they can own and intrigue listeners with.
The adept use of basic instruments and the somber conceptions mold together into an organized, deep-rooted impression despite Wooden Wand and The World IV’s short history together.
Though the album is generally slow and heavy, this is one that won’t sink.
— Amanda Hayes
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