Blizaro: Strange Doorways

This is the collected work of John Gallo, of the band Orodruin. It collects his alter ego project Blizaro, in the form of an expanded CD pack with the complete full recordings of several discs and demos, including Blak Majicians, The Old Man of Winter, Horror Rock, and Blue Tape, as well as unpublished demos. In the collection, there are 40 songs and nearly 2 and half hours of music, and all of it is amazingly well played and varied. Stylistically, there is no one style. Songs can vary from being Tangerine Dream influenced ("Lifestream", which sounds like TD decided to play a bit heavier than normal) to doom, epic metal, Italian prog (mainly Goblin, around the time of Suspiria) and on.

It will not be laziness on my part to not describe each of the songs. For one thing, there are 40 of them. For another, Gallo provides a worksheet with the collection that describes his thoughts about each of the songs on the disc, so you have his insight as to his influences and his compositional process. But to say this is varied would be an understatement. The disc can go from doomy synth rock ("The Meal at Midnight") to the more staid mass-like organ music of "White Frijid Mass" without missing a beat. Throughout, high intensity metal keeps popping up; much of it is epic in scope and engineering. I never know what to expect next.

It is a lot to take in, but it is worth the effort. As a retrospective it is certainly a wonderful collection, and it would make my top of the year list if I am able to include the fact that much of this was previously recorded. Highly recommended.

Track Listings
Disc 1
BLAK MAJICIANS
1. Sacrifice 5:11
2. Lifestream 3:36
3. Slave Of Chaos 2:33
4. Towers Of Mystery 2:03
5. Bliztramental 3:36
6. Sobering Through Darkness 3:18
7. Burial Grounds (Trapped Cadavers) 4:33
8. Voyage Beyond Space 4:02
9. Projections 3:28
THE OLD WIZARD OF WINTER
10. The Old Wizard Of Winter 3:29
11. Fierce Steps The Troll 0:47
12. The Meal At Midnight (Goblin Dance) 1:56
13. White Frijid Mass 7:45
14. The Sneak 3:01
15. Portal Of Betrayal 2:30
16. Sulumucca 2:28
17. Shadow Walk 2:46
EXTRA TRACKS
18. Beyond Mystery 5:48
19. The Watcher 5:45
20. One Step Into Oblivion (Sorcerer's Brother) 4:13
Total Time 72:48

Disc 2
BLUE TAPE
1. Entrance 2:33
2. Sphere 1 (The Mirror) 2:41
3. Sphere 2 (Shifting Through Trapezoidal Vessel) 2:22
4. Sphere 3 (Simulation) 0:38
5. Implosive Corridor (System-1 Nerve Inclusion) 5:18
6. Driving Back The Senses 1:16
7. X Sphere 4 (Doom Monuments)/X Sphere 4B (Nostalgic) 7:11
8. The End Commence (Beyond Protocol, No Return) 9:43
HORROR ROCK
9. Sea Of Darkness 10:30
10. Solar Drone 2:59
11. The Opening Death 1:53
12. Call To Graves 2:34
13. Cadaverous 3:53
14. Switched On Blizaro 1:57
15. It's In The Lighthouse 3:04
EXTRA TRACKS
16. Demonhenge 3:29
17. Plague Resurrector 3:20
18. Evoking The Mystery 3:04
19. Strange Doorways 3:19
20. End Worlds 4:32
Total Time 76:15

Added: November 25th 2013
Reviewer: Dana Lawrence
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
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Language: english

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