Electric Wizard - 1994-2004 Remastered (2006, 5CD)

When Electric Wizard first emerged, seemingly fully formed from the hallowed wombs of the doom metal gods (well, Dorset, England, anyway), all most listeners could do was stand in dumbfounded awe – such was the power and magnitude with which the trio delivered its monolithic epics. Taking up the torch from doom pioneers like Saint Vitus, Sleep, and more recently Britain's own Cathedral, the eternally stoned-out trio went about setting a new standard for slothful, detuned heavy metal noisemaking; yet – amazingly, compared to subsequent efforts – their eponymous debut's crushing wall of sludge would soon seem almost lightweight. Most of the songs on Electric Wizard crawl along at a snail's pace, their mind-numbing riffs exploring the lowest imaginable sonic frequencies still within human range. Except for the trippy space rock guitar of "Mountains of Mars," the entire record revels in the purest, uncompromising post-Sabbath doom metal dirge, a great part of which may prove too sluggish and impenetrable for inexperienced listeners. But for knowledgeable consumers of the genre, weed-worshipping anthems like "Stone Magnet," "Devil's Bride," and the group's awesome namesake, "Electric Wizard" (which is introduced by a long, highly suspicious exhaled breath), amount to a mind-shattering experience…prepare to be enlightened.

~ by Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com

Upon its release, Electric Wizard's excellent debut carved a Titanic-sized swathe through the heavy metal landscape, burying much that had come before under an avalanche of amp distortion, detuned riffs, and billows of marijuana smoke. And yet, impossible as it may seem, the band's absolutely colossal second effort, Come My Fanatics…, while somewhat less immediate than its predecessor, somehow upped the sonic ante through a wall of sludge so thick that even the most experienced of metal heads couldn't help but be overwhelmed by its power. Opening number "Return Trip" is quite simply a heavy metal landmark, from its sudden, feedback-induced (and bowel-releasing) opening chord to the anguished screams of main man Jus Oborn through to its final coughing denouement ten minutes later. The barely discernible lyrics to second track "Wizard in Black" (another monster at eight minutes) gradually emerge from the trio's cyclopean grind, intoning "I am a God…I am the One" – and by gum if by now you're not ready to believe just that! Ensuing acid-metal behemoths like "Doom-Mantia" and "Son of Nothing" (the album's shortest track at almost seven minutes) will test the patience of uninitiated listeners before drifting into focus through billowing clouds of smoke, but the ultimate religious experience is well worth the lengthy conversion process. And though less memorable, instrumentals like "Ivixor B/Phase Inducer," (a full-fledged space rock feedback freakout) and closer "Solarian 13" slot right into the album's imposing mass. Essential doom.

~ by Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com

As Deep Purple's Roger Glover once said, "Heavy isn't about volume, it's about attitude." And no band better illustrates this statement than England's Electric Wizard – the reputed heaviest band in the universe – whose every album has managed to push the boundaries of down-tuned, grinding, monolithic doom metal to unprecedented depths. Sure, they pack plenty of volume as well, but none of it could possibly work without the band's uncompromising worship of weed and all things gothic and malevolent. After a long hiatus (during which they were no doubt traveling the cosmos without ever leaving their parent's basements or putting down their bongs), Electric Wizard finally returned to action in the year 2000. The resulting dirge masterpiece, Dopethrone, delivers walls of sound so dense that at first they seem too big to fit into your ears. At a paltry three minutes, the opener "Vinum Sabbathi" may be the Wizards' first true candidate for an actual "single," but it really serves as a teaser for what's to come. Introduced by short spoken intros taken from B-movies a la White Zombie, extended riff-monsters like "Funeralopolis," "I, the Witchfinder," and the three-part colossus "Weird Tales" are vintage Electric Wizard. Though they never exceed a snail's pace, they somehow manage to build in intensity, from single note guitar lines to huge power chords with deliberate, maddening certainty. First-time listeners will find it easier to cope with more compact offerings like "Barbarian" and "We Hate You," but with time, they'll see the light and embrace the obscenely heavy title track, with its patented "Iron Man" oscillating riff. In short, with Dopethrone, Electric Wizard has raised the bar for doom metal achievement in the new millennium – good luck to the competition.

~ by Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com

A band whose creative process has often been as lethargic as their drawn-out doom dirges, Electric Wizard surprised many fans when they announced the imminent release of their fourth album, Let Us Prey a mere year and a half after 2000s monolithic Dopethrone – itself preceded by nearly four years of silence. Probably for this very reason, Let Us Prey weighs in at a comparatively trim 45 minutes or so and makes for a significantly easier meal to digest than its epic predecessor; but it also falls short of Dopethrone in delivering what many consider to be the final word in doom metal. In fact, it appears that, having stuffed those four years of frustration into Dopethrone's perfectly colossal mass, the world's most doleful trio used Let Us Prey to take a concerted step back from the edge, and allow themselves the privilege to explore a few new directions. A good case in point, first track "A Chosen Few" immediately finds them scaling back their extreme volume and feedback in order to make room for added guitar textures; and second offering "We, the Undead" sees them stepping on the gas and embarking upon a manic thrash-out the likes of which they've rarely attempted (topped by ultra-distorted screaming from singer Jus Osborn). Both are also uncharacteristically short and to the point, but the two-part instrumental "Master of Alchemy: I. House of Whipchord/II. The Black Drug" is more familiar. At nearly ten minutes, it resurrects the vintage, head nodding Wizard of old, and may just qualify as the greatest incidental horror movie soundtrack ever committed to tape. Sadly, its also the album's last unquestionable winner, as subsequent stoner epics "The Outsider" and "Priestess of Mars," while still offering plenty of doom for your buck, start to sound somewhat automatic and recycled. Also, separating the two is an eyebrow-raising anomaly called "Night of the Shape" consisting of piano and saxophone mood music (shock!) splayed out over a nearly electronic drumbeat. Ultimately, Let Us Prey's riskier experiments and occasional inconsistencies, however small, are bound to disappoint Electric Wizard fanatics accustomed to magnum opus after magnum opus; but the fact of the matter is that it still leaves most competitors coughing in the band's pot smoke.

~ by Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com

2004's We Live witnessed the birth of Electric Wizard Mark II, as lone remaining founding member Jus Osborn – tired of years of internal strife – decided to "upgrade" the doom metal stalwarts from a power trio to a twin-guitar quartet. However, with or without the cosmetic improvement brought on by the addition of second guitarist Liz Buckingham, it's important to point out that this incarnation of Electric Wizard has little in common with the original article of ten years prior. Rather, as previewed by 2002's slightly more subdued Let Us Prey opus, this, the Wizard's fifth album finds the Dorset doom masters' original, overwhelming force largely replaced by a deep-seated sense of dread. Here, said vibe is established by the sphinx-like, ten-minute, two-part opener "Eko Eko Azarak: 1. Invocation; 2. Ritual," which quickly puts that second six-string to good use with minor key melodic lines backing up the band's characteristic power riffing. Then again, the ensuing title track, with its spoken word intro undoubtedly lifted from some crappy hammer horror movie, will surprise none among the band's devotees; and the fact that it goes on a little longer than necessary may be less a factor of bad form than overt familiarity with Electric Wizard's habits (again, depending on the listener). Both the typically sloth-like "Flower of Evil a.k.a. Malfiore" and the requisite "fast number," "Another Perfect Day?" also have their share of memorable moments – but not enough, and the second in particular definitely overstays its welcome with useless repetition. So it's with great relief that this rare swoon is vengefully redeemed by two positively awesome compositions: the bottomless despairing "The Sun Has Turned to Black," where the band's second guitar is put to its best use yet; and the final, devastating mass that is 15-minute monolith "Saturn's Children," which spins back the clock to sit comfortably alongside Electric Wizard's greatest achievements of yore. Taken as a whole, however, We Live's clearly uneven attributes will probably not see it going down as Electric Wizard's finest hour; but even so, and taking into account the group's recent transformation, it does offer conclusive proof that, even on a mixed day, this band never drops too far off the top of the doom class.

~ by Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com