After the towering success of 2007's "Witchcult Today," Electric Wizard's hotly-anticipated 2010 release "Black Masses" feels a little disappointing. It's not bad, and it's a lot better than most of the pseudometal that gets flogged to consumers these days, but it doesn't crush my psyche like "Witchcult" or their earlier classics. Let's examine it.
The first thing one notices upon spinning this record is that its overall feel doesn't have much to do with the sound that is generally associated with doom metal. Instead of monolithic, lumbering doom riffs, we get harsh shambling patterns that have much in common with sludge metal. Part of this comes from the tempos, which on average are a little faster than the usual dinosaur doom fare. The tones on this LP aren't immense or majestic, but instead rough, droney, and claustrophobic. Unlike their other releases, you pretty much have to listen to this disc at high speaker volumes, because only then will you hear the thundering fury of the sound. At office or crummy-headphone volume, it sounds pretty noisy and subdued. Also notable in the mix are a lot of spacey keyboard and guitar effects, which are present but not overbearing in their older records.
The other jarring thing about the sound is that singer Jus Oborn's vocals are mixed unusually loud in the mix and sheathed in a tinny David Bowie-style reverb effect. Oborn's not the virtuosic singer that, say, Pete Stahl is, and I think his voice sounds better when it's less prominent and treated as another instrument in the mix ("Dopethrone" is a great example of this approach). He seems to rely increasingly on a "sneering" vocal style that kind of takes away from whatever gravitas the songs have - the punningly-titled "Satyr IX" here is a case in point. I think he's going for an Ozzy feel here, but it doesn't quite work.
So what of the songs, you ask? The LP begins with the chugging sludge tune "Black Mass," which is a decent song that vaguely recalls "Dunwich" from the previous record, though it doesn't swing like that song. Oborn repeats the title often and sounds pretty excited about the fact that a black mass is happening. Next up is a cut called "Venus in Furs," which, to my immense disappointment, isn't a cover of the Velvet Underground song of the same name. I'm sure that my feelings about this track are colored by that disappointment, but I find the song to be mediocre at best. However, I'm quite sure that THE WIZARD were at least inspired by the Velvets song, because the overall sound of "Black Masses" with its noise and harsh drone is actually quite close to that of the Velvets' "White Light / White Heat."
These are followed by "The Nightchild," which sounds like a pretty good doomy tune but is dragged down a bit by whining vocals from Oborn, and "Patterns of Evil," which has one of the coolest titles ever but is completely forgettable. In all seriousness, I've listened to this tune three dozen times and it just doesn't stick with me. Then we get the aforementioned "Satyr IX," which again has good music but is hurt by trebly production.
Fortunately, the next track is "Turn Off Your Mind," another tune with a great title but one that actually delivers on all fronts. Great (bad) vibe, good riff, and listenable vocal execution. This is the catchiest song on the record by far, and furthermore, has a message that I can really get behind. An excellent dismissal of the world at large and an irresistable invitation to withdraw into the Void.
The following song "Scorpio Curse" is similarly well-done, with the dire atmosphere, brain-drilling guitars, and lyrical pessimism that we expect from THE WIZARD. "This world is dead," chants Oborn, and he's right, at least for the song's seven nihilistic minutes.
The LP closes with another worthless but innocuous ambient / instrumental piece, "Crypt of Drugula." I kind of wish Electric Wizard would stop using this classic Stooges trick to pad out their albums, but what indeed can one do?
I give THE WIZARD props for trying to shake things up with "Black Masses" instead of just churning out a followup record plump with enjoyable but generic doom metal, as they certainly could have. It seems, though, like more of their effort went into style innovations than songwriting. With only two killer tunes and a lot of missteps in production, "Black Masses" is only somewhat better than "We Live," falling far short of the cataclysmic brilliance of "Witchcult Today," "Come My Fanatics," or "Dopethrone." Even so, you should still buy it, to send the message that there's still a market for music that doen't suck, conform to trends, or appear in "Old Navy" commercials. (31,427)
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. (28,638)
Share
