Electric Wizard: Black Masses

Electric Wizard: Black Masses

2010

Rise Above Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

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


I was waaaaay late to the party with these guys...They'd been churning out masterpieces of  the haziest, sickliest doom possible since the mid-90's and I was bopping away obliviously until  a late night youtube run found me in the thick of the band's discography. I can remember thinking, "This sounds like Black Sabbath demos or something..." But Black Sabbath was never this malevolent...This lo-fi....It reminded me of a sentient, venomous cloud of marijuana smoke...

So I went to the local FYE and bought a copy of "Black Masses"...Although not as highly regarded as some of the band's other albums it was the only one the store had, so I went for it...Besides, how great is that cover? 

I don't know if Anton LeVay ever played rock n' roll, but I have to imagine if he did, it would sound something like this...Deep, black guitars that churn endlessly into the void as a distant spirit wails in horror...Album opener "Black Mass" is one of the only propulsive numbers on here, after that bit of rousing rock the whole thing slows to a crawl and time loses all meaning...You can't tell if the album is overlong or if the silence after "Crypt of Drugula" is the intrusive element.

Again, I run across people saying it's one of the band's weakest moments, but "Satyr IX" is one of my favorite Electric Wizard tracks...10 minutes of a gloriously distorted, gloomy, rising and falling riff that just cycles and cycles until up becomes down and hours become minutes...One of those songs you can just get lost in forever, and when you pair this with the following "Turn Off Your Mind" (which, I swear has an honest-to-Satan vocal hook...) it's just too beautiful...

I don't know of this record is for everybody...With all the satanism, the ponderous 10-minute song lengths, the crawling tempos, ragged performances, but if you're hopelessly addicted to the Tony Iommi doom riff then there are few bands who will provide a fix this clean...

Let's listen to some Electric Wizard...Here's "Satyr IX"...Enjoy...