Electric Wizard Part 1

OK, as i stated before, I'd offer up something which allows us to turn the amps to 11, as there have
been (imagine!) accusations of BigScott62 "mellowing out".....geeeeez.....OK, here we have stoner/sludge/metal/doom icons Electric Wizard, great fucking shit, closest, in comparison, I suppose, to Sleep, but the Black Sabbath influence can hardly be denied either.......this can be cranked loud and it will work out for ya, trust me, and they have a comprehensive volume of material for us to enjoy.
Electric Wizard were formed in the early 90's in Dorset England, guitarist/vocalist Jus Osborn being the focal point, along with bassist Tim Bigshaw,and drummer Mike Greenig.....over the years Osborn would remain the only constant, guitarist Liz Buckingham, bassist Rob Al-Issa, and drummer Shaun Rutter, among others, filling in the crucial times in the band's chronology.......basically it is Osborn's band.

OK, these lads have released I believe 8 "proper" albums, and of course I have a buncha live and rare for tomorrow......let us start, then, at the beginning.....the first album, of course, was 1995's self titled opus, it is a pretty fair album of hard doom-stoner rock, "Behemoth" and "Electric Wizard" are very cool quaalude-droners, and the rest of the album is not to be dismissed either.....probably unknown to you if you are not a fan of stoner/doom rock (as of course I am), but a fine starting point if you are wishing to get into the experience that is Electric Wizard.
Thier second full release, 1997's "Come My Fanatics....." is a GREAT one, you dabblers, this is the one.....one of the definitive doom/drone albums of the era. LOOOONG trippy numbers, "Return Trip" and "Wizard In Black" are highlights, but this is a stellar album in the genre.....it rocks out hard from beginning to end.

These dudes worked overtime, putting out various EP's and splits, which I will stick on Part 2 of this post, theire next "proper" release is the amazing "Dopethrone" (2000), which may or may not be thier masterwork, depending on how one feels about "Come My Fanatics"....."Dopethrone" is the definition of an album that ROCKS but does NOT ROLL, LOUD, SLOW, and geared towared the downer freak.....hey, downer freaks need a soundtrack to their lives also....."Dopethrone", for my money, is a solid 4-star album....the 15 minute "Weird Tales" trilogy being MY personal highlight, the 20 minute title track (reminiscent of Sleep's "Dopesmoker") is a winner as well, and this is a FINE FUCKING ALBUM, one of the best albums of the 2000's, not joking.....it pulls it off exactly as it INTENDS to pull it off, and that, kids, is the fucking IDEA!

So, a couple of years later, they released "Let Us Prey", something of a let-down but for me still a
fine album, the 10-minute, two part "Master of Alchemy" and the lengthy "Priestess of Mars" are more of the kind of thing you'd WANT to hear from Elecrtic Wizard, if you don't LIKE this stuff (there are many who don't), please check some of my previous posts, as heavy/doom/stoner rock is truly one of my absolute passions!

Album #5, "We Live" is the first album they released with the revised lineup, in particular guitarist Liz Buckingham who added a new complexity to the sound....the album is based around themes from various horror movies, and I think is nearly criminaly under-appreciated ("Dopethrone" and "Come My Fanatics" are generally considered their best work, I rank "We Live" on very nearly the same level.).....check this one out to take on Buckingham's inspired guitar work, it's a good and underrated one, trust me.

The next disc "Witchcult Today", was a step down for my money, perhaps the formula was wearing down a bit....Osborn's vocals are a bit more prominent than on the last few releases, although this one rocks heavilly as well, the highlight being "The Chosen Few" which clocks in at a bit over 8 minutes.

In 2010 they released "Black Masses"....I am not really crazy about the disc, to be honest......the idea/concept was wearing down, and the sound is dull and tired.....I mean, hey, I am a FAN of this particular sound, but things REALLY don't go on forever.....they attempted to be less "slick" on the album, returning to their "classic" sound, but as always, when a moment has passed, it has passed.....to be fair there are a couple decent numbers here, "Patterns of Evil" and "Turn Off Your Mind" are good sludgy rockers, but it just, to me, seemed the moment was over.

So, they plug on even today....as recently as this year they released "Time to Die", it's not awful, it's just time to, well, maybe move elsewhere...."Incense For the Damned" and "I Am Nothing" recall the classic Electric Wizard sound, but in my opinion, checking out the REAL classic albums they released would be advantageous to the listener.

OK, tomorrow.......a TON of live shit, unreleased, splits, EP's, what ever.......here are their eight studio albums, a few are great in the genre, a few are somewhat less than that, but someone asked me to turn up the volume a little, and Electric Wizard does that for certain......doom/sludge/stoner rock FOREVER!!!!!!!!

ELECTRIC WIZARD-01 Stone Magnet/02 Mourning Prayer/03 Mountains of Mars/04
Behemouth/05 Devil's Bride/06 Black Butterfly/07 Electric Wizard-Wooden Pipe

COME MY FANATICS-01 Return Trip/02 Wizard In Black/03 Doom-Mantra/04 Ivixor B-Phase Inducer/05 Son of Nothing/06 Solarian 13

DOPETHRONE-01 Vinium Sabbithi/02 Funerapolis/03 Wierd Tales/04 Barbarian/05 I The Witchfinder/06 The Hills Have Eyes/07 We Hate You/08 Dopethrone/09 Mind Transferal

LET US PREY-01 A Chosen Few/02 We, the Undead/03 Master of Alchemey/04 The Outsider/05
Night of the Shape/06 Priestess of Mars

WE LIVE!-01 Eko Eko Azarak/02 We Live/03 Flower of Evil AKA Malfiore/04 The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue/05 Another Perfect Day/06 The Sun Has Turned To Black/07 Saturn's Children

WITCHCULT TODAY-01 Witchcult Today/02 Dunwich/03 Satanic Rites of Drugula/04 Raptus/05 The Chosen Few/06 Torquemada 71/07 Black Magic Rituals and Perversions/08 Saturnine

BLACK MASSES-01 Black Mass/02 Venus In Furs/03 The Nightchild/04 Patterns of Evil/05 Satyr IX/06 Turn Off Your Mind/07 Scorpio Curse/08 Crypt of Drugula

TIME TO DIE-01 Insence For the Damned/02 Time To Die/03 I Am Nothing/04 Destroy Those Who Love God/05 Funeral of Your Mind/06 We Love the Dead/07 Sadiowitch/08 Lucifer's Slaves/09 Saturn Dethroned

Buncha shit here.....crank it up LOUD, cause I gotta BUNCH MORE of it I be gonna lay on yo ass tomorrow!