After the befuddled + disappointing farewell of the original cataclysmic Electric Wizard lineup, 2002's "Let Us Prey," sole remaining member Jus Oborn took a couple years off to assemble a new band. He ended up picking his bird Liz Buckingham (ex-Sourvein) as a second guitarist, Justin Greaves on drums, and Rob al-Issa on bass. Fans looked upon this lineup with trepidation, and rightly so. Compared to the deeply sinister syncopation of Mark Greening, Greaves sounded like an accountant. Al-Issa could certainly play the bass guitar, but completely lacked the Jamaican influence that defined original Tim Bagshaw's playing and made the classic EW platters so engrossing.
The record they came up with, 2004's "We Live," sounded like a joke compared to their earlier work, and EW fanatics put on sackcloth and ashes and sat around wreathed in bitter smoke as they mourned the former lords of doom.
And so it was with great surprise that I plopped 2007's "Witchcult Today" on the turntable and was enrapt less then a minute after the needle drop. As it happened, this record turned out to be what critics call a "return to form." Here's how :
Like "Dopethrone" years before it, "Witchcult Today" wastes no time in whomping the listener with music that is powerful, tectonic, and just terribly heavy. The opening title cut envelops the listener in a sly tarlike groove while Oborn plies his tale of modern cultcraft. I'll also say here that "Witchcult Today" is one of the great song / LP titles of all time. If anyone is selling subscriptions to that magazine, sign me up.
The punches don't let up, as after seven malevolent minutes of "Witchcult," EW launches into the groovy, hard-swinging, and highly sinister "Dunwich." This song somehow manages to sound doomy even at a fast tempo; Oborn throws a slurveball in this one by doing some cool-sounding vocal harmonies. "Dunwich" is wickedly fun and brings a taste of chaotic party vibe a la White Zombie.
Next up comes the unforgettable "Satanic Rites of Drugula," which (witch) is self-parodic, cartoonish, and wonderful. "Your dope-laced blood shows me new highs," indicates Oborn. One again detects the Zombie influence here, more in the lyrics and attitude than the music; the pace is doom molasses.
Next come a couple decent tunes, "Raptus" and "The Chosen Few," but these are really just a bridge to my favorite song on this disc, the horrifying and witty "Torquemada '71." If you're like me, anytime you hear the word "Torquemada", two things come immediately to mind : the awful ethnic violence that was the Spanish Inquisition, and Mel Brooks' uproarious portrayal of the torturer Torquemada in his ribsplitting "History of the World, pt.1," wherein he treats the Inquisition as Broadway to hootworthy effect. "Torquemada : Do not ask for mercy. You can't Torquemada anything!" THE WIZARD brings so much intensity and lumbering swagger to this song that it's impossible to resist its ridiculous pull. Oh, one more thing : in this song, Oborn has Torquemada getting it on with a revenant Countess Bathory. More than any other song, this one brings back the snarl, humor, and pulverizing weight that brought us into the Electric Wizard fold to begin with.
The record closes with the thunderous ambient doom instrumental "Black Magic Rituals and Perversions," which is kind of a cop-out, but it does sound pretty cool and, as Pauly Shore would say, "stoney."
One thing about this LP that you will undoubtedly notice is that most of the songs are a variation on the same groove-riff. The title cut, "...Drugula," "The Chosen Few," and "Torquemada '71" sound verrrry similar to each other. That's OK though -- THE WIZARD is going for a kind of AC/DC / Chuck Berry formal consistency here, where all the songs are more or less the same, but they all rock and rule. Suits me just fine -- I'd rather have a whole record of samey but excellent doom than one full of pointless, vibe-robbing experimentation. As I mentioned in my Doom Metal 093 class syllabus, doom is mostly about dire atmosphere.
What are the drawbacks of "Witchcult Today?" Well, the songwriting, while quite good, isn't at the staggering, unconscionably great level that characterizes "Dopethrone." Also unlike that monumental LP, the sound of "Witchcult Today" is warm and vintagey, probably thanks to the 70s-era equipment they used for recording and the new amps that Oborn employs. It sounds good, but it doesn't sound, you know, scary. It comes off like a really good 70s dirge record. "Dopethrone" sounds like a field recording of World War III.
That said, "Witchcult Today" is on par with 1997's "Come My Fanatics" -- that is, a truly great doom metal record. It brings the requisite oppressive atmosphere in vast dusty clouds of sweet lethargy. Miss it at your soul's own peril. (23,617)
Well, we've had some inquiries about the most righteous doom group Witchsorrow since posting the doom metal primer. For those too lazy and / or stoned to go to Youtube themselves, here's the lead "single" from the self-titled disc of dementia, "The Agony." If you don't think that this is some of the best leaden music of the year, you are a plone.
After the below video, be dead sure to go the the next link, where you can stream the entire new Krallice LP, "Diotima," for @#$%ing free. NYC ambient black metallers Krallice are the new cause celebre of the hipster fixed-gear cappuccino-metal set, but they're also one of the most creative bands in underground music. It's a must.
Click below to stream the new Krallice LP. From NPR. C'mon just take a sip of your fair-trade chai, don't let your greasy metal friends see what URL you're on, and click :
Hape cracked open his portfolio to reveal a sleek laptop, which he opened to Danny’s dismay and started the presentation. This was his ace in the hole. He’d helped put this thing together, and it not only briskly revealed the technological superiority of the FlexTelligence E line, but broke the news that Head had bought no less than three super-high-profile endorsers away from rivals : Gil Fisher, Ainsley Chong, and the apparently unbeatable Ricky Phil Stiller. Stiller was widely expected to sweep the Grand Slam this year on the strength of his terrifying serve and shrewdly evil baseline play. It was commonly speculated that his endorsement of the “Claymore” model racket had been the only thing keeping the Prince corporation alive.
The presentation video was fast-paced, well-produced, and hard-hitting, saving the Stiller endorsement for last and introducing a flashy new model co-designed with Stiller – the “Big Brain”. That epithet was one commonly applied to Stiller early in his career, when his primary method of winning matches was making fools out of aggressive opponents by exploiting their positions with his surgical shots from the baseline. Since, he had developed a high-velocity first service to match his better opponents, but the name stuck. Hape could never shake a vague unease with this title and Head’s adoption thereof, however – he felt that it was mildly anti-Jewish. There were plenty of cerebral players out there – wasn’t this sobriquet a way to shove Stiller into that old “Jews are smart but lack brawn” box?
Danny, who generally loathed presentations, found himself quite engaged by this one, and the news of new endorsements softened his heart a bit toward Head. Hape, who was watching Dracula’s face like a poker player throughout the presentation, began to notice the details of Danny’s appearance. His close-cropped blond hair amplified his ruddy complexion to an almost alarming degree, and his left ear had no lobe to speak of. The faint shininess of skin around his neck suggested corrected scarring and made Hape suspect that Danny had been in a bad auto or industrial accident. His white Ping golf shirt was pressed, but had a small red stain on the left shoulder blade that Hape surmised Danny had missed, given the meticulous condition of Danny’s Nikes and the impeccably creased pleated khakis he sported. Hape imagined how the stain might have gotten there unnoticed : did the offspring of Dracula sneak up with a Crayola marker? Unintentional dribble of Kool-Aid from a hoisted toddler’s lip? Shirt taken from irregular stock? Hape realized with a twinge of regret that he would never know the answer. (37,973)
Share
