Deemed “the heaviest band in the world” by many, the doom-metal outfit Electric Wizard constantly lives up to the moniker, releasing one drug-induced, riff-heavy album after another. Their latest offering to the black altar of the riff, Witchcult Today, serves up an intoxicating dose of crushing sounds and cult-inspired lyrics.
Witchcult Today rediscovers the band’s roots after the release of We Live (2004) and Let Us Prey (2002), which were met with mixed feelings by fans and the press alike. Witchcult Today falls somewhere in between Electric Wizard’s two seminal releases, Come My Fanatics (1997) and Dopethrone (2000), which are regarded as some of the best albums to come from the stoner-rock/doom-metal scene.
Recorded entirely with equipment dating from the 70’s, Witchcult Today captures the mystical and drug-related influences that are so common in the band’s work. While the production is clearer than that of Dopethrone, the sheer size of the sound that Electric Wizard fans and doom metal fans alike crave is present. Riff after monstrous riff is laid down over the span of eight tracks totaling just under an hour. “Clear” is a relative term when speaking about Electric Wizard, though.
The sludge influences clearly come through on the album, adding that grimy, fuzzy element to the gigantic walls of sound created by Jus Oborn (guitar/vocals), Liz Buckingham (guitar), Rob Al-Issa (bass), and Shaun Rutter (drums). The bass track is incredibly heavy and will not only shake the walls in your house but you guts as well. The only track that seems to give you a break from skull-crushing sounds is “Black Magic Rituals & Perversions.” However, this track may send you into the musical equivalent of a horrifying, psychedelic trip.
Oborn’s vocals are mixed in a more stoner-rock fashion using heavy reverb, creating an atmospheric layer that floats like smoke across the crushing sounds. You could almost inhale it, which is almost certainly Electric Wizard’s intention. They’re not mixed as low in the recording as on Dopethrone or altered as much, but they seem to be recorded just right for this particular album.
As for lyrical content, there is no shortage of the customary Electric Wizard offerings of the occult, witchcraft, Freemasonry, 70’s horror, and psychadelic drugs. “Torquemada 71” seems to stray a bit from the usual, but not by much, referencing Tomás de Torquemada, a first Inquisitor General of the Spanish Inquisition, who was referred to as the “Hammer of Heretics” by a Spanish chronicler.
While Witchcult Today may not be at the level of Come My Fanatics or Dopethrone in the history of the band or in doom metal in general, it’s certainly one of the better albums to surface from Electric Wizard and the genre. After the experimentation on the two albums prior to this and the mixed reviews they received, Electric Wizard seems to have found their path and have begun moving in the right direction.
For fans of the genre, this is a quality listen and it’s Electric Wizards best effort since Dopethrone. For those who don’t want to dive head first into the stoner/doom-metal world, Witchcult Today offers a slightly less powerful hit than others, but the effects are still strong. Just take it in slow, let it linger, and then feel it affect your senses.
Rating: 4.5/5
