Electric Wizard
Dopethrone

THE REVIEW

Great party, really. Everything. There was everything. Really everything. 5:12 AM. Now, however, we have to face the return. We have an hour of road ahead, Gazz and I. I feel like a squirrel, I want to climb the cypress trees in the garden, agile, with an alien in my head pounding on my skullcap, yet agile. Gazz is feeling bad. He's mostly been drinking, but his expression reveals a desire for death, amplified by his whitish complexion, the rivulets of sweat on his scarred forehead, and his beer-mixed-acid breath. I'm driving. I'm feeling fine, my reflexes are decent even though my only clear memory of the party is my friend's dog's tongue in my mouth. We get in the car. Gazz has perched two super-soft tissue papers on his forehead, perfectly outlining the sweat halo. He sighs. That sigh of someone who can't take it anymore, who just wants to get rid of the rubbish ingested earlier. He pants repeatedly, deeply, I sense he'll soon throw up. We start off. The road is clear, a cold night but no ice, no one around. "They knew we were out", Gazz repeats "no one will stop us... no one, take me home now baby". That phrase makes me think, I look at him dozing with half-closed eyes, and I see him totally different, he called me baby, I almost want to take him and kiss his forehead, covered with the carcasses of the tissue papers. I quickly return my thoughts to the road. A police patrol now would be a blow to the head, but let's not think about it. After 5 minutes I realize we have no music.

I grab a random CD, I can't see the titles, I want some music to keep me company. The CD starts. Electric Wizard is fine, I leave it, I watch Gazz, he hears the music and relives it in his state. VINUM SABBATHI - "Slave to the Black Drug" sings Gazz. As he twists on the seat in his discomfort. He's still relatively okay, but we still have a long way to go. FUNERALOPOLIS - "maggots, maggots", despite the catatonic state, he remembers some words, he relives them... WEIRD TALES - This is long, he can't keep up, he loses it and starts crying, can't control himself... BARBARIAN - Despite the tears, he returns to the almost real world, I hear a gurgle followed by "Master"... I, THE WITCHFINDER - He repeats infinitely "Albaino, Albaino, Albaino"... We're almost there, not much left. Strangely I start feeling more lucid, I'm getting bored of the road, light a cigarette to cover the smell of his deadly breath and the acid rising up my stomach. It reaches my mouth just as I inhale, I open the window and spit. Gazz continues to pant. "Shall we stop?" I ask. "Take me home baby!" he repeats. WE HATE YOU - Gazz stops talking, lets this hit flow without warbling, lets himself go... DOPETHRONE - A few kilometers left and he feels he'll soon be home, happiness is visible on his round face. The sweat on his face is almost gone.

We arrive at the gate of the house. "So here we are. Get well, see you tomorrow." "Ciuertho thi fhiamo ighoo"... I turn sharply. What is that cryptic alphabet that flows from his tongue? I think of what I'm listening to, some dark rite and Black Sabbath but the answer hides inside the mouth, full of rotten alcohol mixed with appetizers returned from where they entered. I get pissed off, I kick him out with his mouth overflowing with vomit and leave him there, in front of the house gate, ring the bell and leave. Tomorrow is another day.