•
Rating:
Premise: this album is not easy. Surely, some who have listened to it have said it sucks, but it should be listened to several times before judging, given that "Dopethrone" by Electric Wizard turns out to be the long tale of a band that, during the recording of this album, spent more time getting high than on their instruments. Indeed, the compositions turn out to be abnormal with infinite times, so much so that Electric Wizard wanted us to feel how they were: stoned. Dopethrone by Electric Wizard is an album from 2000, considered a huge pillar of the slower and darker genres of Metal, such as Sludge Metal, Stoner Rock, and especially, Doom Metal. The sound turns out to be innovative: unlike the band’s previous album "Come My Fanatics...", there are some musical differences, and among these we find the melancholic voice of singer and guitarist Jus Oborn heavily distorted, while the instruments appear more distorted than expected, and even put in the foreground.
We start with "Vinum Sabbathi", the shortest and "fastest" track on the album, with a duration shorter than the other songs on the album (3:05), yet there seems to be an audio connection with the next song, "Funeralopolis", the masterpiece of the album: it begins with a very slow part and, almost at the end of the track, it unleashes, giving life to the best moment of the album. And after this slow triumph, we face "Weird Tales", a hypnotic journey progressively composed of three parts, starting from the fast and swirling "Electric Frost" (first part), then moving to the dark and gloomy "Golgotha" (second part) and finishing beautifully with "Altar of Melektaus" (third part). After this spatial vortex, we return with a purely doom metal track "Barbarian", heavily influenced by Black Sabbath. Moreover, the entire album is influenced by Sabbath. The next track, "I, The Witchfinder", I find to be the darkest track of the album, but the next track called "The Hills Have Eyes" is simply an instrumental of a few seconds, preparing us for the worst in a few words... indeed, here comes the initial distortion of "We Hate You" announcing that the listening restarts through this song that manages to convey various moods all at once, but obviously, depression is the dominant element of the song and the album. The last track "Dopethrone" closes this masterpiece beautifully... with half pure Doom, and half silence, which can only mean one thing, namely that the album has opened new paths for many bands and classified Electric Wizard as one of the best Doom Metal bands and beyond.
In conclusion, I don't think there’s much difference between smoking a couple of joints and listening to this "Dopethrone", because, after having listened to this masterpiece, everything seemed stranger to me. Not that I smoked a couple of joints, to be clear, but this album truly has something that few albums have. I absolutely recommend it.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Vinum Sabbathi (03:06)
Extracted essence of the stones
Narcotic of the faceless ones
I awake on planet black
Freezing moon, no turnin back
Forbidden sorcery
Vinum sabbathi
Now i'm a slave to the black drug
Forced to serve this black god
I thought myself a master of the arts
This dimension of misery is my penance
Forbidden sorcery
Vinum sabbathi
(repeat to the end)
04 Barbarian (06:29)
[sample: "The wizard..."]
He left the northern hills to seek his fortune
A lone barbarian with only death lust to guide
He carved a kingdom of stone
King Conan, sitting on his bloody throne
His black mane sweeps across his face
Grim and silent with a steely blue gaze
Like a panther ready to strike
His blade crashes down to end your life
Conan rules with an iron fist
Many people, they look up to him
??
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
Master swordsman of Hyborian Age
His name is legend to this very day
Even gods cower when his sword is unleashed
Nothing dare face him, neither man or beast
Cut a bloody swathe across this battlefield
Red mist rising, break your human shield
Slashed to pieces is to be your fate
Unleash berserker rage none shall escape
Conan rules with an iron fist
Many people, they look up to him
??
You think you're civilized, but you'll never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You think you're civilized, but you will never understand
You'll never understand
05 I, the Witchfinder (11:03)
I am Albino, evil witchfinder
I'll cleanse her sins,
For witchcraft I condomn her
My implements of torture are bloody red
Your confession to sorcery will leave you dead
I am Albino, evil witchfinder
I know she's guilty before I find her
I'll pierce her flesh to find this mark
Torture, my pleasure, true servant of the dark
I... The Witchfinder (repeat very often)
07 We Hate You (05:08)
A seed of hate from the day I was born
My right to vengeance from me has been torn
Hopeless and drugged - my black emotions seethe
Loveless and cold - my hate begins to breed.
Black nebula, seething in my brain
Then your fucking world brings me down again
So i'll take my fathers gun and i walk down to the street
I'll have my vengeance now with everyone I meet, yeah!
A seed of hate from the day I was born
My right to vengeance from me has been torn
Hopeless and drugged - my black emotions seethe
Loveless and cold - my hate begins to breed.
We... hate you! (repeat to the end)
08 Dopethrone (20:48)
Dope priest prophecy
Doomantra from beneath the sea
Green throne, raised to the black sun
Doom child, wake to planet song
Rise, black amps tear the sky
Feedback will free your mind and set you free
Rise, black amps tear the sky
Riff hewn altar wreathed in smoke and weed
Dopethrone, in this land of sorcery
Dopethrone, vision through T.H.C.
Dopethrone, feedback will free
Dopethrone, three wizards crowned with weed, yeah
Black monolith charged with unlight
Sacrifice to forever midnight
Towers, titan sonic wave
Sorcery, necromantic slaves
Rise, black amps tear the sky
Feedback will free your mind and set you free
Rise, black amps tear the sky
Riff hewn altar wreathed in smoke and weed, yeah
Dopethrone, in this land of sorcery
Dopethrone, vision through T.H.C., yeah
Dopethrone, feedback will free, yeah
Dopethrone, three wizards crowned with weed, yeah
In this land of sorcery
Vision through T.H.C.
Holy feedback, it will free
Three wizards crowned with weed
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Smoke
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Rocky
Their music is a morbid mantra of black magic, a kind of dark and suffocating psychedelia.
Dopethrone rises from hell to transform into a malevolent anthem to soft drugs and affirm the immense power of the electric wizard.
By Moonchild
Electric Wizard is fine, I leave it, I watch Gazz, he hears the music and relives it in his state.
A few kilometers left and he feels he’ll soon be home, happiness is visible on his round face.
By werom
Here there are only endless and repetitive riffs, practically no musical progression.
It just seems like the band is always on autopilot, it becomes so boring that I can't listen to this album for more than 10 minutes without turning off the stereo.
