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Rating: Electric Wizard are the extreme example of a drug-fueled journey, lived amidst anguish and obsessive paranoia. Their music is a morbid mantra of black magic, a kind of dark and suffocating psychedelia, a degenerate offspring of early Sabbath and a natural continuation of the psychoactive atmospheres of the seminal Sleep. Their delirious musical journey, begun in 1994 with the modest debut album "Electric Wizard" (according to many, too influenced by the style of the early Cathedral), continues with the definition of their own style, characterized by a greater presence of psychedelic elements, already hinted at in their second album "...come my Fanatics" (1996) and fully developed in the subsequent EP "Supercoven" (a terrifying example of extreme psychedelia, a sublime concentration of space atmospheres tormented by the deathly cadence of doom-metal).
The English band, plagued by continuous drug addiction problems and their consequences, submerged into a long period of silence lasting almost four years (excepting the two EPs "Supercoven" and "Chrononaut"), casting uncertainty on possible future developments. The catatonic state enveloping the band's creativity, however, is interrupted by a sort of growing cult which, paired with the insistence of Fans, produces the desired effect: a new album and corresponding tour.
In the autumn of 2000, the long-awaited third LP "Dopethrone" finally comes out, a sort of concept album based on the group's troubled past experiences, elevated to a manifesto of their existential discomfort. The musical inclination expressed by this intense album leans more towards a markedly doom form with sludge nuances, making the sound perhaps more claustrophobic and oppressive than before, yet equally steeped in those spatial digressions now firmly embedded in the band's DNA.
The slow and devastating stride of the opening track "Vinum Sabbathi", vents its fury with a condensation of negative electricity and unhealthy vibrations that introduce the following "Funeralopolis", a kind of epic ritual with strong apocalyptic references, baptized with the lighting of a bong and a barely perceptible sigh of pleasure at the track's opening.
The darkness further emphasizes its supremacy in the subsequent "Weird Tales", an endless horror trip that dilutes and expands the excessive saturation of the sound, creating a darkly lysergic atmosphere growing and tracing imaginary trajectories towards the unknown. However, the flame of doom continues to shine, constantly kept alive by a now chronic tension, leading to the monstrous "Barbarian" and "I, the Witchfinder" and in turn broken by a brief instrumental interlude "The Hills have Eyes". The concluding "We hate You" and "Dopethrone" rise from hell, to transform into a malevolent anthem to soft drugs and once again affirm the immense power of the electric wizard.
Tracklist Lyrics 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
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Other reviews
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 Wallego
"Dopethrone by Electric Wizard is an album from 2000, considered a huge pillar of the slower and darker genres of Metal."
"After having listened to this masterpiece, everything seemed stranger to me... this album truly has something that few albums have."
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.
