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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Return To The Old-School Wizard, 31 Dec 2007
The superb English doomsters Electric Wizard are back with another monstrous slab of slow, brain bludgeoning riffs and grooves, fuzzed to the extreme and laced in sumptuous psychedelic overtones. Essentially, doom metal doesn't get any better than Electric Wizard. Past releases such as "Come My Fanatics" and their generally regarded peak, "Dopethrone" slay the rest of the doom/stoner metal field. While recent albums such as "Let Us Prey" and "We Live" are outstanding works when compared to the hundreds of lacking bands in the genre, the new line-up (new from "We Live") needed something to surge them back to old form. "Witchcult Today" does exactly that.
There is not a second wasted on "Witchcult Today". Like "Dopethrone" and "Come My Fanatics" I can just spin the album without ever wanting to skip. The one-two punch of the title track and "Dunwich" is blistering, with the title track flowing through various powerful grooves, riffs and an infectious chorus. "Dunwich" picks up the pace a little, again blasting through superb riffs and another excellent vocal melody in the chorus. Thankfully the band decided to keep this relatively up-tempo song at a reasonable pace, something disregarded in the last two albums with two overly fast tracks that just sounded messy and out of place. Slow brooding doom is what the band does best, and it doesn't get much better than "The Chosen Few". The songs menaces its way classic EW riffs and culminates with a haunting vocal harmony laced with one of the album's most infectious riffs. "Torquemada 71" reminds me of "We Hate You" from "Dopethrone" thanks to its simplicity and resulting accessibility. My favourite riff on the album and an equally compelling chorus hook makes this song the album's would-be lead single...would-be, if there was a popular chart for doom and stoner metal that is. After the atmospheric and often psychedelic flow of "Black Magic Rituals" the album closes with the excellent "Saturnine", which thunders through a catchy main hook and ends with an all-out jam full of fuzzy soloing, trancelike sounds and atmospherics and of course a driving groove to earth it all.
This is exactly the album I wanted Electric Wizard to make. Gone are the questionable experiments, replaced by unapologetic, classic EW. Fans of the band's old material should absolutely love this release. The doom masters are back!
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yay! More Riffs and Satan!, 21 Jan 2008
2007's second surprise! An album which isn't at all disappointing! At last Electric Wizard have successfully followed up `Dopethrone' which to me still stands as the finest heavy metal album of this century so far. But `Witchcult Today' is perhaps the bands finest work after the mighty `Dopethrone'. Believe the hype, this doesn't actually disappoint..........I'm astonished!
So although `Let Us Prey' and `We Live' were far from bad albums they were a tad disappointing as `Dopethrone' had showed us that good old Ewizz could deliver some of the heaviest metal in all western Christendom. But with `Witchcult Today' we have the more refined sound akin to `Let Us Prey' and `We Live' but with all the oppressive doom-laden heaviness of `Dopethrone', a fine combination indeed. As with all Electric Wizard albums `Witchcult Today' has atmosphere which is rather good indeed especially when every band these days sounds exactly the same with too much compression and triggered drums, thankfully both these things are notable in absence and instead with have that splendid atmosphere invoking images of black masses, Hammer horror, sideburns, Watneys Party Seven and the Goat of Mendes.
I must say that in terms of song writing the quality on display here is excellent, so I may even forgive the 3 year gap between albums (lets have less of a wait next time please). All the actual songs here are very well done and non of it feels overlong or doom by numbers as some of `Let Us Prey' or `We Live'. `Witchcult Today' sets the tone for the whole album with those oh so `eavy riffs, plodding tempo's (let's black metal things up actually, so erm......funeral march of Cthulhu doom), layered guitars, wonderful atmosphere and a guitar tone so vintage it sounds like its dusty.....yeah why not. Anyway, an excellent song not too dissimilar to `Eko Eko Azarak' but a much better song. `Dunwich' is perhaps my personal favourite, very catchy (chorus' and all!) with some lovely spooky organ and of course occult Lovecraft inspired lyrics....could I perhaps draw comparisons with the fact that Electric Wizard have based a song on occult goings on in a small English town just as Black Sabbath did on `Headless Cross', well I think I just did. `Satanic Rites of Drugula' is based around a tale of a drug addicted Vampire, which is very silly but an enjoyable theme (along as they stay away from my screen plays about Jewish Dracula, we'll be fine) and musically it's a trip back to `Dopethrone' and its oppressive heaviness. `Raptus' is a bit of a filler, a pointless noise track but hardly offensive and you can always skip it. One could accuse `Witchcult Today' of being a bit linear as it essentially only does one thing; really heavy riffs and lyrical themes of the occult, I would complain but that's my idea of a good time. `The Chosen Few' (not to be confused with `A Chosen Few') continues this, really heavy riffs and singing about Satan.....again it's top notch, some bands can't get away with these long plodding songs but Electric Wizard do it with aplomb mesmerising it's listeners with that dusty, dusty guitar sound. `Torquemada 71' is perhaps the weakest song on this album, but still rather good with more catchy chorus' and mournful vocals. `Black Magic Rituals & Perversions' is very atmospheric but really needn't be 11 minutes long, but still a interesting listen (beats Opeth too! Ok I've fulfilled my Opeth basing quota). `Saturnine' is another favourite here and is justifiably long, its truly hypnotic honestly you don't even need to be on narcotics to go "whoa dude my hands are huge" when listening to this. A mesmerising way to finish the album and it's got a catchy chorus too, something which I've always admired about Electric Wizard no matter how heavy things get they retain memorable songs.
Musically this line up is Electric Wizard's best, unrestrained heaviness yet potential for more control than the original line up. Jus Oborn and Liz Buckingham still haven't learnt to sweep pick! (what's going on there Petrucci fans?) No, jokes aside there are some excellent riffs here and the layering of the guitars is tasteful and effective. Jus Oborn's vocals receive much more focus on this release and its perhaps his best performance yet keeping with the eerie and atmospheric vibe of the album. The drums and bass keep the groove loosely and imaginatively in places, exactly what's required. All round a job well done.
So what we have here is the album of the year (I've decided this is better albeit unsurprisingly completely different from the new Helloween). Whereas Reverend Bizarre (especially) and Candlemass released fairly dull albums, Electric Wizard have proved once again that they are a cut above the rest coming out of what was comparatively a slump and releasing their best work aside from `Dopethrone'. A modern classic perhaps, highly recommended.
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6 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Have Electric Wizard cast another spell?, 21 Nov 2007
I was hugely anticipating the release of this album by doom overlords electric wizard, as it was hinted they would return to the slow sludgey riffs of the seismic dopethrone album. However whilst the band retain much of the same lyrical themes, it is more reminiscent of stoner rock and genre legends Kyuss.
Whilst I am also a huge fan of Kyuss, the beauty of this bands' back catalogue was that the music was ugly and with the sheer vulgarity of their sound, you were guarenteed that your body would shake and contort under the wall of distortion. Witchcult Today appears to refine the clarity of sound and in the process loses it's immediate appeal.
Having only listened to the album a handful of times, i am certain that this album will prove to be solid album, but feel that it is not the classic return 'Electric Wizard' fans were promised.
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