3 out of 5

Label: self-released

Produced by: Christophe Hogommat

A very solid but comparatively disappointing followup from Wizard Must Die, rocking into existence six-ish years after their last.

When last we left WMD, they were psychedelicing up their stoner rock with some prog and post-rock elements, kinda blowing my mind at how powerful and confident the music was. L’Or des Fous is no less confident, but it does feel more linear… though also it brings in a kind of constructional looseness that ends up feeling somewhere between listing and bloating at points; you will lose track of which song you’re on, swearing it had already ended.

That is a slam, but the core of each of these six tracks still rocks mightily, leaning a bit more into arena-sized big ol’ riffs than anything especially stoner or prog, with vocalist Florent Michaud appreciably having anted up their game, giving the project a whiff of Houston bravado, extended out to 11-minute jam sessions. Taking a closer look at the roster, we see that former drummer Christophe Hogommat has stayed behind the boards, but given the kit over to Robin Aillaud, who is credited with some of the extra instruments we here – synths, “programming.” Besides the time difference between this and the last album, I’d guess the roster change is also responsible for the shift in sound, since the percussion has driven both albums in various ways. Before: Hogommat’s loose limbs gave songs their freeflowing nature; here, Aillaud is more of the Zeppelin school, making sure we hit those riffs hard and then keeping up the attack.

Which is to remind: L’Or des Fous absolutely rocks. It just tends to rock at exactly the points you expect this time, which is satisfying if not as exciting, especially when stretched out with some interlude-y epilogue-y fiddlings during the longer tracks.