Electric Wizard - Black Masses

When I think of doom I think of Electric Wizard, a band of which I have been a huge fan for many many years.  Basically, Electric Wizard IS doom as far as I’m concerned.  They have long been my go-to act when I need something downwardly tuned and slower than my usual listening habits.  The band has admittedly seen many changes in both lineup and sound over the years, evolving from the psychedelic dirges of the early works, to the unrelenting, punishingly heavy sounds of Dopethrone, to the cleaner, more subdued post-lineup change material of the last two albums.  Almost three years to the day from the release of what has since become my absolute favorite Electric Wizard album Witchcult Today, (and yes I’m well aware of the howls of anguish this potentially blasphemous claim will undoubtedly elicit) Jus Oborn and friends have delivered a new album in Black Masses, and well, to be completely honest, it’s a little disappointing.

I’m a realist.  I fully understand that there is not ever going to be another Dopethrone and I’m ok with that.  Some folks will just never be able to get past the fact that the lineup that created that genre landmark will probably never work together again. In 2004 when Jus came back with an entirely new lineup for We Live, which showcased a much cleaner sound, many wondered if Electric Wizard’s trademark insane heaviness was a thing of the past.  Witchcult Today, from 2007 was a hugely pleasing, surprisingly strong release containing some of the finest songs the band had ever recorded in the unusually upbeat, grooving “Dunwich”, “Torquemada ’71”, and “Saturnine”.  While it would be unreasonable to expect Black Masses to live up to Dopethrone, it doesn’t seem too far detached from reality to expect it to at least match Witchcult Today in quality, something that, sadly, it doesn’t really come close to doing.

There are two really good songs on Black Masses.  “The Nightchild” and “Patterns of Evil” certainly hold up against any of the great Electric Wizard tracks of yore.  Dirty, groovy and dark, they are perfect examples of the band at their best.  Other than these two, however, the outlook is pretty bleak.  While listening to the title track and “Turn off Your Mind” with their endless chorus repetitions and uninspired riffs, I am continually reminded of later era Danzig material.  As this isn’t even a favorable comparison for a Danzig album, it’s especially painful to have to apply it to a band as respectable as Electric Wizard.  “Venus in Furs” is not a cover of the Lou Reed classic, and it features some ‘shouted through a megaphone’ vocals that render the song nigh unlistenable before it also devolves into endless mindless repetition.  A cover of that Reed song would probably have been more exciting.  Album closer “The Crypt of Drugula” is a nine minute noisy drone track that might have been fun to make but becomes, for the rest of us, extreme level filler that I guarantee you no one listens to.

This all injures me to have to say.  I really wanted to like this album, and I put this review off for an unreasonable amount of time in the hope that it would grow on me or click or something.  I figured maybe I just wasn’t stoned enough, so I smoked way up but to no avail.  Eventually I had to come to the realization that I just don’t like it.

Release Date: November 1st, 2010
Label: Rise Above Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Black Mass
2.  Venus in Furs
3.  The Nightchild
4.  Patterns of Evil
5.  Satyr IX
6.  Turn off Your Mind
7.  Scorpio Curse
8.  Crypt of Drugula

Running Time:  59:09

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*Comments:

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

January 23, 2011