The most important factor in understanding SHINING WIZADO is audience. The one-man (southern rock) band based out of Seattle's most interesting aspect is how specific its audience is, and how successfully it manages to cater to this audience. Now, for the uninitiated, this means that SHINING WIZADO, and by extension, Cosmic Doom, are bewildering at worst and decent at best. In this sense, SHINING WIZADO demands more of the listener than almost any conventional other artist in existence.
To explain: the target audience for SHINING WIZADO is almost entirely contained with in the /wooo/ board on the online imageboard 420chan. /wooo/ is the professional wrestling board on the site, and also one of its most popular, and Cosmic Doom is riddled with memes local to the board. For someone unaware of the board, SHINING WIZADO and Cosmic Doom will be confusing. But to the members of /wooo/, SHINING WIZADO acts as its own social touchstone. Here is an artist whose entire body of work feels like it was created with them in mind, the songs all feel tailor-made to cater to them, sharing their interests, humor, likes, and dislikes. The musician behind SHINING WIZADO is one Super Blizzard (obviously not his real name, but his handle, and the name that /wooo/ would know him by). By targeting his music specifically to such a small audience, Blizzard has ensured that the audience for his music will remain small, but dedicated. Online wrestling fans are not exactly a demographic that has a lot of competition on the musical front.
And what about the music? Well, Cosmic Doom has three songs: "And I Quote", "TEDDEH", and "Neo Solar Prayer". The first two are essentially jokes that run for about a minute and a half. This is not to say that they're bad, they're quite funny jokes, provided you get the punchline. "And I Quote" is essentially a parody of Michael Cole the primary announcer for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The song essentially mocks Cole's character and the segments he's been involved in. Of course, if you didn't know that, hearing lines like "Ha ha it's funny 'cause his mother is dead" would probably give one pause, unless they find dead parents a source of humor, in which case, they may want consult a therapist. Regardless, the song is a well crafted bit of dirty rock, the backing vocals that punctuate the song reveal the care put into it.
The next track, "TEDDEH", is also a parody of a WWE personality, this time the on-screen General Manager of the Friday Night Smackdown television show, Teddy [TEDDEH] Long. The song essentially runs through a laundry list of Long's most cliche practices as the GM, specifically his fondness for "straight up tag matches", once again, the enjoyment of the lyrics is largely contingent on the joke, so without it, one is just left with the music itself. Once again, the music is enjoyable, it transitions quickly from "And I Quote" with an attitude that fringes on punk. And in that sense, it continues that attitude by ending after a very concise 1:22, setting the stage for the final track.
"Neo Solar Prayer", the final track, is the one that succeeds the most on its own merits. It's referential yes, to an independent wrestler no less, but it's not a joke, and it's the easiest to appreciate without an understanding of the subject material. Not only that, but it's the most interesting from a musical perspective as well, with two distinct parts, and clear variations in dynamics and all sorts of other things that could be defined in a more technical manner, but I don't know the terms to do that. Regardless, it proves that WIZADO is more than a one-trick pony.
And as a result of that "Neo Solar Prayer" illustrates the biggest issue for SHINING WIZADO. Quite simply, the musical ability at display warrants a larger audience. Not only does Blizzard limit the chance for audience expansion by catering to /wooo/, he also limits the range and scope his music can go in. Lyrics and instruments designed to please such an exact cross-section of society could easily grow stifling after a while. If SHINING WIZADO doesn't deserve a bigger audience, then it at least deserves a better one.
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Cosmic Doom can be purchased as part of SHINING WIZADO: Championship Edition at the SHINING WIZADO bandcamp page.
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