Hunting Gatherers (Bonus Track Version)

The psychedelic space-glam rock band Glitter Wizard is one of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets. Where most hard rock bands in the Bay Area step onstage in their casual Friday attire, Glitter Wizard puts on a theatrical performance with costumes and props that would make a young Alice Cooper proud. But the outstanding songs on the band's second album, Hunting Gatherers, prove that Glitter Wizard is hardly a novelty act. In the hard-chugging opener, frontman Wendy Stonehenge (his real name) bellows into a harrowing chorus: “I don’t worship the devil/The devil worships me.” There are moments here and throughout Hunting Gatherers that intersect Hawkwind’s intergalactic analog space rock with early Black Sabbath’s heavy doom-metal. “Blood of the Serpent” leans a bit heavier on the latter. Its meat-off-the-bone riff recalls Sleep's “Dragonaut,” save for more dynamic singing, catchier melodies, and some top-shelf keyboard work by Doug Graves. The biker-rock standout “Motörider” pays tribute to Motörhead with hard-throttled guitars as Stonehenge belts out the melodies in a deeper growl. The album epic “Big Sur” stretches out for nearly nine minutes of astral mayhem.