Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (2007)

Flash your doobage addled brains back to two thousand and two. Someone's saying to me, "Have you heard this band, Electric Wizard, and their new album, Let Us Prey." "No, I haven't." "Well, you better, because they are just great."

And so I did, I picked up their then new album, 'Let Us Prey' to see what all the fuss was about. Looking back to those days I was still somewhat new to more traditional stylings of doom, probably preferring the more Doom/Death Gothy-ish stuff above all else, and while I can remember enjoying parts of that album it left my hands and found a new home at the local record stores used bin soon enough. I regret stuff like that.

In more recent years I found myself really, really enjoying the traditional style of doom above all other variants of the genre, and when a friend played a song from this album a few months ago at our local watering hole I found myself really, really wondering why I carelessly passed these guys by years earlier. A visit to the local record store and it was mine. Perhaps 'Witchcult Today' is the better record, I don't know, but what I do know is that I absolutely love this album.

Our time has come, The end has begun...

With a history dating all the way back to '88 under the banner of Lord of Putrefaction, then as Thy Grief Eternal and eventually just Eternal, before settling on Electric Wizard in '93, these Bournemouth, Dorset, UK doomsters have surely been cranking out some of the finest doom this side of hell for the past twenty years. 'Witchcult Today' was the bands sixth album, released in '07 by Lee Dorian's Rise Above Records, and with lyrically themes centered around occultism and witchcraft it hit the mark with me with that alone, but then toss in some of most heavy badass doom I'd heard in recent memory I knew I'd found a new (yet old) band I'm probably going to be obsessing over for a while to come.

The opener 'Witchcult Today' sets the mood instantly with a crushing dosage of heavy, catchy and slow riffs bookend by a classic psychedelic vibe and ominous vocals that sounded entirely refreshing the first time through, despite the fact I'd probably heard something entirely similar before. 'Dunwich' continues the good vibes with a bit more speed, further explorance (is that a word, whatever) of the trippy psychdelic moods and honestly so much catchiness that this one has already been dubbed my feel good song of the summer. Electric Wizard has such a strong vintage vibe on this one and the songs to follow that it truly feels like something from decades past, and in fact the band used equipment and techniques from the 70's to make it a reality. 'Satanic Rites Of Drugula' bruises onward with its diabolical daze while 'Torquemada 71' will surely be caught in your brain for days after hearing it. 'Black Magic Rituals & Perversions' ignites a more experimental shift for the album while the closer 'Saturnine' is just more of the good stuff we've already heard. Oh, and 'The Chosen Few,' man, 666 all the way, and the short instrumental 'Raptus' is also notable, though I think it just as easily could have been attached to the endings of any of the songs.

I wont lie, music like this is often times all the more enjoyable under the influence of whatever poison you chose to put in your body, but this is one of those albums where you just catch the vibes so strongly that you sort of dope yourself up naturally while journeying through the album. The ultra heavy and entirely memorable riffs, crushing bass, creepy vocals, occasional hammond organ and sitar usage and the sluggish pace mixed with the occult motif really hits home with this listener. Plus the cover artwork and inner photos depicting various scenes from Satanic movies makes it all the more glorious and grim.

You could say I've found a new band to obsess over and obsess I shall. I look forward to hearing more from this band and since when I discover something I really like I always take it slow and only buy a new album from their catalog every few months. That way I can totally absorb and take in everything each release has to offer. With that being said, take a hit from 'Witchcult Today' and bask in the glory of doom.