electric wizards new album, black masses, came out on nov. 1, 2010. its been a while since ive thought of doom metal really, much less electric wizard. but come my fanatics & dopethrone are two of my favorite metal albums, period, so i figured the new albums gotta be worth checking out.
to be honest, ive not paid anywhere near as close attention to electric wizard's post-dopethrone output as their first two albums. i think part of the problem was just how disappointed & underwhelmed i was w/ let us prey & pretty much everything subsequently.
as a debut album, come my fanatics is about as good a statement of intent as any. to me, it took sabbath to the logical conclusion - riffs so thick & heavy they have the consistency & viscosity of molasses. not molasses that could preserve a mosquito. molasses that could preserve a mammoth. case in point:
for me anyway, i think the immediacy of the album stems from its lack of compromise. theres a certain oppressive atmosphere that isnt present on electric wizard's later albums. however, as the next step in the bands musical evolution, dopethrone is to come my fanatics what - hmmm - london calling was to self-titled? loveless to isnt anything? ok computer to the bends? i dont know. but i think this is probably the best song electric wizard will ever pen:
which brings me to black masses. ive only really listened through about twice, & im sure ill listen to it occasionally, but my initial reaction is pretty much the same that ive had for all of electric wizards later output - id rather just listen to their first two albums. theres a very psychedelic sound to black masses, & while its definitely still loud, its just a little too limber. which is not to say that the album is bad, really. i just think that the accessibility of the production, aesthetic, & sound makes it that much less remarkable. anyway, this song is one of the standouts for me from the new album:
around the 4-minute mark the band starts escalating the acid-tinged space freak-out & pretty much never lets up. pretty sweet, actually.
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