Electric Wizard

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Dorset, England…the dark heart of the UK. The year is 1993 and a group of drug enthusiastic Metallers stand in unison and defiance to all that the job centre can throw at them, for they know that the fates have driven them to meet this day and that for ever more they will take up a moniker that will reverberate throughout the world. That moniker is, was and ever will be…Electric Wizard.

Alright, so Dorset isn’t really the dark heart of the British Isles, more country bumpkin then anything else, and meeting in the unemployment line isn’t the most legendry meeting in rock existence but either way, Electric Wizard have been making Doom focused stoner metal since their first meeting and even with changes in the line up have constantly offered a reassuringly heavy sound.

Their latest offering, Witchcult Today is no exception, starting with the eponymous track, that echoes firstly with distorted backward playing voices, allowing the fuzzy and hallmark slow stoner bass to kick in while Justin Oborn’s unmistakable cool and brooding vocals drone across the wave of sludgy reverb.

‘Dunwich’ meanwhile provides a killer guitar riff from Liz Buckingham and the boys, combining to create a sound like a contemporary Motorhead, a slowed and heavier version of, mind, and with a definite Anglo-Saxon sound as well.

With a name like ‘Satanic Rites of Drugula’ it would be a shame not to mention this powerhouse track that gives Rob Al-Issa space to show off his excellent bass manipulations, a vital artery to the heart of Electric Wizard’s heavy doom resonance.

‘Torquemada 71’, meanwhile blasts into existence, heightening that vintage psychedelic feeling Electric Wizard plays with throughout their recordings but adding also a Metal fused contemporary twist, the combination of Occult references and the maelstrom of psychedelic stoner influenced doom seeming to work so well that you can’t imagine witches of the 1600’s rocking out to anything else but this wicked track.

Electric Wizard can’t seem to put a foot wrong of late and even with the line up changes of recent years they still produce a sound you can trust in and enjoy time and time again. In days of old witches would be accused of nefariously kissing Satan on the buttocks to gain the dark powers, they needn’t bother anymore. Slap this into ye olde music system and you’ll be entwined with the dark arts in no time. Top Notch!

Michael Byrne