Electric Wizard - Black Masses

Electric Wizard aka Leccy Wizoir aka Totally The Best Stoner Doom Band in the World Ever. Finally the masterpiece that is Dopethrone has been reissued on vinyl and it's more than ably accompanied by their seventh full lengther which sees their sound take its biggest shift in quite a while, I'd go so far as to say, what with the super lo-fi all-analogue sound of the thing making it seem quite reminiscent of many a black metal album. I was a little doubtful of it all at first, maybe because it's not quite as skull-crushingly heavy as I've come to expect from them, but having had a few listens I reckon it's totally working out. A change is as good as a holiday, etc. etc. And it's clearly not affected their ability to produce some of the most fine and ridiculous riffs you'll ever hear, even if you sometimes get the feeling they might've used them once or twice before.. Not that anyone's gonna care about that since they pull them off so blazingly, literally without exception. The lyrical themes are also comfortingly familiar: murder, sex, drugs, sacrifice, torture.. All the cool shit. Although maybe the coolest shit of all is the big picture of them rocking out in a graveyard on the inside of the gatefold. Totally comical yet totally amazing at the same time, as ever. Hats off. Totally.