{"id":740,"date":"2010-11-01T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=740"},"modified":"2013-07-20T12:07:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T12:07:25","slug":"album-review-electric-wizard-black-masses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-electric-wizard-black-masses\/","title":{"rendered":"ELECTRIC WIZARD – Black Masses (2010) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELECTRIC WIZARD
Black Masses<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRise Above (2010)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Since 1993, England\u2019s Electric Wizard has been haunting the underground with their sludge-infested sound. Although featuring only one original member, vocalist \/ guitarist Jus Oburn, after the other members left to form the critically acclaimed Ramesses, the band (and its revolving lineup) have continued to burn the midnight oil only a decade into the new millennium. Filling rooms worldwide with the smell of cannabis and the sound of the devil himself, the band have again added to their catalogue of stoner classics with their latest Metal Blade Records release, Black Masses<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The first thing you notice about Black Masses<\/em> is the band\u2019s continuing fascination with the lo-fi late sixties \/ early seventies underproduction. The band\u2019s fuzz-laden guitars echo and scream and screech in the most occult-ish way you can imagine throughout the album. While tempting to recall early Black Sabbath<\/a>, the band reaches for a sound that predates even the mighty ones. The plodding and rhythmic \u2018Black Mass\u2019 is the perfect example of what I\u2019m talking about it sounds like a phoenix rises from the ashes as it slowly but surely builds itself until it\u2019s running over you with raunchy solos and garbled vocals. The explosive guitar work of \u2018Scorpio Curse\u2019 is a moment not soon forgotten either. Easily the tightest song on the album, the vocals take the stage front and centre and deliver the closest thing to an anthem the band has recorded in a long, long time. The darker and slightly faster paced than usual \u2018Patterns of Evil\u2019 is a highlight as well. You can envision a room full of headbangers bobbing up and down to it with ease. Even the insanely heavy and distorted \u2018Venus in Furs\u2019 offers enough to latch onto to intrigue most new listeners.<\/p>\n

Is this as awe-inspiring as Electric Wizard<\/em>? No. Is it as experimental as Dopethrone<\/em>? No. Is it as vintage sounding as their last album, Witchcult Today<\/em>? No. The strength of Black Masses<\/em> is simply that it reverently acknowledges all three without repeating the past. Don\u2019t get me wrong, this album will likely not appeal for any length of time to anyone that regularly listens outside of the stoner or doom genres, but it also doesn\u2019t sound confined by the band\u2019s hallowed name either. Electric Wizard continue to do what so many bands fear and that is press forward while respecting their own contributions to today\u2019s musical landscape. Black Masses<\/em> is a beast of an album that is likely the finest stoner album Metal Blade has ever released.<\/p>\n

Mark Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ELECTRIC WIZARDBlack Masses Rise Above (2010)Rating: 8\/10 Since 1993, England\u2019s Electric Wizard has been haunting the underground with their sludge-infested sound. Although featuring only one original member, vocalist \/ guitarist Jus Oburn, after the other members left to form the critically acclaimed Ramesses, the band (and its revolving lineup) have continued to burn the midnight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-electric-wizard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}