Electric Wizard - "Wizard Bloody Wizard"

Ok, so Doom Metal is a really hard genre to pull off, like a LOT of Metal's sub-genres.  But Electric Wizard right from the get-go really seemed to know exactly what they were doing.  Their 1994 debut "Electric Wizard" was a wild, fantasy driven sluggish metal album.  But it didn't come off as forced, it honestly came off like they were doing it for years and trained with some of the best.  Now of course, if you're not into Doom Metal it's a little tough to get into sometimes.  But if you're into this sort of very visual Metal with fantastic playing, this is one hell of a debut album.  1996's "Come My Fanatics..." was a little less impactful, but still a seriously bluesy and ridiculously fun to listen to.  But for me, I wanted to hear Electric Wizard come out with a truly classic album.  Which they did in 2000 with the unbelievable "Dopethrone".  This album was brutal from start to finish, with multi-part tunes often reaching well over 10 minutes.  But it was all so bluesy, so gloomy, and it ended up taking me to an entirely different world when listening to it.  Not only is it a blast, it's Electric Wizard at their heaviest and most technical and it's amazing.  With 2002's "Let Us Prey" though, Electric Wizard took a much different approach.  Yes, the band was still trudging along with some seriously slow and gloomy doom metal.  However, this was a much darker and much more hellish album.  The vocals were so much harsher and the atmosphere was so dense and dark.  It's still a really solid release, but it's certainly different for these Doom Metal masters. Up next, Electric Wizard released "We Live" in 2004.  Now, I don't want to say I was underwhelmed by this, but I was a little bit.  I thought this heavier direction the band was going in was just so good, and this album sort of showed them getting back to Doom basics.  Which trust me, is totally fine.  But this to me was just a step back.  Lyrically, I still loved how the band flirted with darkness.  But everything else about this album was awfully underwhelming.   Electric Wizard got back to their darker side with 2007's "Witchcult Today" however.  I wouldn't say this was as dark as I would have liked, but I loved the much grimmer lyrical content and a whole lot of the imagery.  Plus, the groove-based playing and the theatrical vocals just really worked well for the band here.  But still, Electric Wizard hadn't really blown me away completely in a while.  But quite frankly, that's exactly what they did with 2010's "Black Masses".  This album was so damn sludgy, easily the heaviest thing the band had done in years.  There were fantastic, dark visuals seemingly everywhere, and tracks like "Turn Off Your Mind" and "Venus In Furs" were strangely melodic.  This is an album that really caught me off guard, but I'm glad it did.  Electric Wizard continued to be the definitive Doom Metal outfit with 2014's "Time To Die".  This album at first listen may just be standard Doom Metal.  But the overall campiness here and just how over-the-top everything seems to be here makes this one just another truly solid Electric Wizard release.  Now, I'll be honest, I decided to sort of go into this album blind, just because Electric Wizard has always been a real ALBUM band to me.  So let's chat about this new Electric Wizard album!

    This album starts off with “See You In Hell”, and by this point in Electric Wizard’s career, you really ought to know where this album is starting off.  This is a very VERY slow, sluggish Doom Metal tune.  Now, instrumentally this is totally a viable tune.  I love the pacing, and just how beefy and powerful the guitars are coming off.  But what in the world is going on with Jus Osborn’s vocals?  They’ve always been, at least to me, somewhat mysterious and are at their best floating through the background like some demonic, otherworldly voice.  But no, his vocals are front and center here and quite frankly incredibly awkward.  Lyrically, I even feel like “See You In Hell” is right around where Electric Wizard should be.  But to me, this track doesn’t add u as one of the best outings from Electric Wizard.  There used to be such a griminess to their music like someone had stumbled across some occult recordings.  This track, and sadly a lot of this album, comes off a little too clean for my liking.  As a whole, “See You In Hell” comes off like a direct-to-DVD sequel to a decent horror movie that just doesn’t add up.  Up next is “Necromania”, and I do like the much dirtier sound to this one all centering around how heavy some of those guitars come off.  Now, Jus’s vocals once again are really sort of underwhelming.  But here, at the very least they are not front and center.  Also, the track is a whole lot more hypnotic and cultish sounding.  While I do with that Jus’s vocals were just a little bit harsher, I actually dig a lot of this track.  The band sound determined, and most importantly they do sound like they have a lot of ideas left, which is something I’ve worried about plenty of them.  Even lyrically, this actually sounds like something that would have come off of the band’s classic albums.  I’m still a little iffy on the production because I do remember a time when the production was so filthy it sounded straight out of hell itself.  But outside of that, this is passable.   At the very least, as this album goes on, things certainly do get sludgier.  “Hear The Sirens Scream” has the nastiest and grimiest riff yet, and easily sounds like it could have been on one of their true classic recordings.  But for some reason, I really just can’t get my head around Jus’s vocals, which for the most part I’ve always really enjoyed.  I feel like they have always aged well, but here they still just sound awkward.  But that’s enough nitpicking about “Hear The Sirens Scream” because I do like this one.  Even the production on this track is so filthy, and the distortion is heavy enough to go up against tracks on classics like “Dopethrone”.  I mean, I wouldn’t say tracks like this aren’t terribly outside of the box, Electric Wizard isn't reinventing anything.  But it’s still some mighty solid doom metal, and I do love just how visual some of the lyrics are.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqO_gPaxLYU

    “The Reaper” is up next, which has a ton of decent buildup and some serious tension, Electric Wizard has always been so solid at getting pacing down.  But too much of this track is just so damn corny.  Electric Wizard has always dance dangerously close to the “corny” label with fantasy and horror lyrics galore.  But here, it’s just becoming tedious.  Yes, the guitars are sluggish and heavy and the synths are just the sort of campy fun I’ve come to expect from Electric Wizard.  Outside of that though, this is just a bland tune.  At a tight 3 minutes, this really has no meat on its bones.  Now, “Wicked Caresses” is up next, and boy would it ever be a shame if that solid production just flew out the window entirely.  Spoiler alert, that’s what happens here.  I have no idea how Electric Wizard thought this track sounded good.  The guitars here aren’t nearly as thick and bulky.  As a matter of fact, they come off so tinny and ugly sounding.  I’m fine with muddy production, hell, it’s what the band has made a career out of.  But here, it just detracts way too much from what the band is trying to do.  Not to mention, Jus’s vocals have gone from sort of awkward to downright obnoxious.  The solos are muffled by how ugly a lot of the instrumentals are coming off.  Even lyrically, this track just flew by without affecting me at all.  I’m really not sure what happened to Electric Wizard here, but this track seriously isn’t good.  This album ends off with “Mourning Of The Magicians”, and this one’s slow, downtrodden riff and muddy opening feel really works for me actually.  This one is just so filthy and gloomy, aka everything I’ve come to know and love from Electric Wizard.  As far as vocal performances go, this is by far Jus’s most acceptable performance here as he is at his most sinister sounding.  He urges us to “Come together and feel it now”, and whatever that means he makes it sound brilliant.  It’s just such a twisted, bloody track that once again comes off seriously authentic.  But for one of Doom Metal’s most legendary acts, it’s almost too little too late.  Yea, this 11 minute monster of a track is brilliant and seriously well done.  But how come it took this long into the album?  And if you think one track is good enough to save this album, no, trust me, it isn’t.  As this one goes on and on, it just gets more winding, more intense, more melodic and seriously heavy.  This track could have easily ended up on one of the band’s earlier releases, and I seriously mean that.  Even lyrically this one just gets the right amount of cheesiness going, making this track work all around.  

Rating: 6.9/10

Give A Listen To: "Necromania", "Hear The Sirens Scream", "Mourning Of The Magicians" 

Genre: Doom Metal / Stoner Metal / Sludge Metal 

Overall Thoughts:  So, throughout their career Electric Wizard have remained pretty consistent, even into their later years.  But this is by far, their sloppiest album to date.  First off, for them this album is criminally short, it really barely gets started.  A lot of these tunes may have been better if they took more time and spread out until 10 minutes or more.  But that's far from the only problem.  The production and Jus Oborn's vocals are seriously not up to Par.  They've worked with muddy production for years, but this is muddy to the point where it just gets in the way.  And Jus's vocals, which I usually love, have taken a huge turn for the worse very quickly.  The few tracks on here that do stand out actually show that Electric Wizard still can pen some truly great Doom tunes.  But everything else on here makes me sort of think it's time to pack their bags.