Electric Wizard, Witchcult Today
Rising up through the thick haze of bong smoke, the kings of reefer fueled doom madness, Electric Wizard are back with one hell of a heavy album. Witchcult Today, the band’s latest effort from Candlelight Records, has the quartet unleashing waves of sludge filled doom upon the masses.
With their cult status as one of the world’s heaviest bands, Electric Wizard is out to turn your senses on end — reshuffling your very D.N.A. Through the eight tracks on Witchcult Today you’re hit hard and often with tripped out doom riffs, crusty rhythms and drone mood shifts. Suffocating like a crushing hit from two feet of glass, many of the tracks on this album can only be described an oppressively heavy, leaving very little room for the listener to catch up from the steady march of sludgy, stoner metal.
Prepare for a monolithically slow descent into the depths of the surreal with Electric Wizard’s Witchcult Today. You’ve been warned.
Witchcult Today
The title track opens up with some creepy sound clips and a heavy, memorable bit of riffing. The opening guitar work lets you know exactly what you’re in store for with this latest album — plodding, sludgy doom. Jus Oborn’s trippy and distant vocals fit the slow moving wall of doom carnage well. The track ends with a bit of chaos and noise.
Dunwich
“Dunwich” starts off quietly and slowly builds with some noise and light drum work. I love the opening riff when it hits at the 22 second mark. It’s got plenty of groove and doom. The vocals are presented with a bit more urgency to them than the opening track. This is easily one of my favorite tracks on the album. Through the thick sludge and doom there’s an underlying melody that’s simply infectious.
Satanic Rites of Dragula
If you haven’t strained some sore of connective tissue in your neck after “Dunwich” then be prepared to do so with this heavy as hell riff monster. “Satanic Rites of Dragula” builds slowly with thick bass work and soul crushing riffs. It’s trippy feel will have your head spinning if the hash you just inhaled hasn’t taken hold yet.
Raptus
The shortest track on the album, this instrumental starts off very quietly with a light bit of noise and experimental guitar work. After two minutes of noise and odd guitar tunes, the band shifts onto “The Chosen Few.”
The Chosen Few
After that brief tripped out interlude, Electric Wizard open up this next song with crunchy, static-filled riffing as the rest of the band slowly join in. The riffing is pretty catchy and heavily laden with doom and despair. The track ends quietly with a bit of ambient noise.
Torquemada ’71
“Torquemada ’71” opens with another heavily sludge affect riff. I’m pretty sure the band is simply trying to build the largest wall of doom inspired sound possible. The opening riffs are thick and oppressively heavy. They’re similar in tone and structure as some of the previous tracks, but much heavier than anything we’ve heard thus far on Witchcult Today. The chorus on this one is catchy as hell also.
Black Magic Rituals & Perversions
“Black Magic Rituals & Perversions” is the first of the two 11 minute plus epic tracks that wrap up the album. This one starts with lots of dark noise and tribal drumming as the bass riffs away in the background. This one is essentially an experimental, ambient track with lots of tripped out noise, vocal effects, big riffs and creative drumming.
Saturnine
The final track on the album starts out with some creative drum work under a veil of static and crunchy guitar work. Oborn’s vocals sound much further in the distant than the rest of the album. It’s definitely got a much more stoner feel to it as well. There’s a nice bit of soloing work at the 5:40 mark that pierces the doom with an enlightened sound. The album ends with some guitar noise and a bit of chaos — an appropriate finale to the crushing sludge and stoner sound of the album.
~ ~ ~
Man, Electric Wizard have stepped it up a notch with Witchcult Today. Combining crusty bass rhythms, colossal doom riffs, calculated drumming and Oborn’s vocal delivery, the band has produced one masterpiece of a heavy album.
Favorite Tracks:
All of them.
Additional Notes:
n/a