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User
Reviews 5
Approval 97%
Soundoffs 61
Album Ratings 5480
Objectivity 88%
Last Active 09-06-22 1:37 pm
Joined 09-24-05
Review Comments 7,357
| tectac's Electric Wizard, Ranked
The poster children for stoner metal - after years of having only heard DOPETHRONE, I figured it was time to do my due diligence and give the rest of their discography a shot. Not surprisingly, it is quality. One of the most consistent bands ever, maybe, aside from their most recent release which is the sole outlier. They certainly have a specific style and niche, but they do it so well and explore the space so completely that it hardly registers as a fault. | | 9 |  | Electric Wizard
Wizard Bloody Wizard
Wanted to be esoteric and place this black sheep anywhere but last place...but I could not do that in good conscience. This is Electric Wizard's weakest effort, almost objectively so - very nearly an exercise in self-parody, and while some of that caustic edge might be intentional, especially given the mocking namesake and purposely suggestive cover art, awareness of one's own reflexive aping doesn't suddenly make it okay. The only album in their catalog that's skippable. | | 8 |  | Electric Wizard
Black Masses
Atmospheric as hell, though almost to its detriment. One could argue that every Electric Wizard album is better baked, but I think this one would benefit the most from an altered state of mind. Lots of droning psychedelic sections, phased vocals, and dark interludes - the kind of album that serves better as background music. But, you know, really fuckin' awesome background music. | | 7 |  | Electric Wizard
Witchcult Today
Most call this a "return to form" for Electric Wizard, but I don't think they ever really *left* any form, to be honest. The closest cousin of DOPETHRONE, sure, but who's to say that *that* album is what defines the form to which they should return? I'll probably catch flak for having this so low - that's more a testament to the strength of Electric Wizard's canon than anything. Still think this album rocks, though I prefer the exploratory nature of the few (heavily underrated) albums that precede it. | | 6 |  | Electric Wizard
Come My Fanatics...
Great stuff, obviously, though just a tad too unfocused - I know "lack of focus" is probably the worst complaint for a genre that thrives in zoned out, borderline-droning sprawls, but there's something about this that feels...I dunno...slightly less "conceptual" than all the albums I rank above it. It's the one album that seems, to me, more like a series of songs than a complete experience. Those individual songs still rule, however, so the complaint is really just a nit pick. | | 5 |  | Electric Wizard
We Live
Mega thicc and groovy - possibly Electric Wizard's most "doomy" album of all, with a focus on simple riffs and beefy, engulfing tones. A great record to play with the subwoofer turned up so you can hear all the plates and glasses in your cupboard shake. In a word: "Crunchy." | | 4 |  | Electric Wizard
Electric Wizard
Electric Wizard's least modulated album - their feature-length debut remains their most bare-bones assemblage of riffs to date, which sort of makes it the closest approximation to the bands they're paying homage to, the most notable, of course, being Black Sabbath. But there's still a grit and tonal thickness here that Ozzy & Co. never quite achieved, making this more than a mere carbon copy of ye olde metal. An often overlooked Electric Wizard album that shows an immense amount of promise right outta the gate. | | 3 |  | Electric Wizard
Let Us Prey
Man oh man. Like walking through a temple of sludge and coming out the other side irrevocably darkened and calcified. Their most garbled, manic, paranoid, and overbearing work to date, and I mean that in an assuredly positive way. Feels like a template for Hell (M.S.W.) - the soundtrack for a dinner date in the underworld. The occasional psychedelic guitar cuts against the grain of density, adding blurbs of levity in a manner that's almost caustic. Good shit. | | 2 |  | Electric Wizard
Time to Die
Absolutely appalled at this album's unanimously low rating. Impeding, filthy, and totally unctuous riffs that take their time tying you down to the rack and pensively cranking the dial, laughing as your limbs start cracking from being slowly stretch apart. The best fusion of their various subgenre influences - from doom, to stoner, to psych, to sludge - making for an experience that's as strangely cathartic as it is absolutely crushing. Overdoes it with the satanic imagery just a bit (not that I have a problem with that in and of itself, but it frequently feels forced), but it's easy to overlook a minor flaw when the music is this tender and delicious. | | 1 |  | Electric Wizard
Dopethrone
Normie pick for first place, I suppose, but this is just the pinnacle of stoner-psych metal, innit? My feelings toward it could be compromised since it was not only the first Electric Wizard album I ever heard, but also the *only* Electric Wizard album I ever heard for a really, really long time, meaning it has the unfair advantage of being etched into my memory well before I started exploring the rest of their catalog. After rummaging through it all, though, this remains my favorite, an undeniably succulent exercise in dense tones and atmospheric lethargy. Could this be the most unabashedly masculine record of all time??? | |
tectactoe
10.07.20 | Please don't kill me! | Colton
10.07.20 | I saw your profile pic and thought "wait what is that" and then my brain was instantly like "sudowoodo" and if I can remember Sudowoodo after like ten years without thinking about Sudowoodo then I can remember what I need to know for my college program no problem thank you for the motivation | tectactoe
10.07.20 | Happy to help! | tectactoe
10.07.20 | Clearly I waited too long to do this :^( | rockandmetaljunkie
10.07.20 | 6 ahould be higher, it's probably their best work they've ever done | Pikazilla
10.07.20 | 1 is 1, rest I totally disagree with xD | CygnusX1
10.07.20 | 1 6 7 is personal top 3. Band is best while injecting the devils lettuce | tectactoe
10.07.20 | Haha, figured this would be mostly disagreeable outside of the first and last spots. But, to be clear, I really like all of the albums aside from WBW. | tectactoe
10.08.20 | (Not sure what they were thinking with WBW, honestly. So bad.) | Dewinged
10.08.20 | I absolutely agree with 1 and 9. | porcupinetheater
10.08.20 | No need to apologize for a normal pick at 1 when you put Fanatics... at 6. Also 1 *is* 1 | McP3000
10.08.20 | I actually like Come My Fanatics better than Dopethrone. I think its a little more consistent, even though Dopethrone has higher highs.
Pun mildly intended. | tectactoe
10.08.20 | Haha @porc, I guess you're right.
For reference though:
1 is god tier
2 through 6 are great tier
7 through 8 are good tier
9 is ass
Really albums 2 through 6 could be shuffled around in almost any order and I wouldn't complain. Though I'm starting to feel like TIME TO DIE is my "definitive" number two. Honestly the low-ish score on that one shock me. | rockandmetaljunkie
10.08.20 | I dig the fanatics guitar tone more than Dopethrone, tbh. Dopethrone sounds way too polished for its own good. | tectactoe
10.08.20 | In Fanatics the tone is "crunchier," in Dopethrone it's a bit "fuzzier."
In Time to Die it's super sludgy and that's why I love it. | afrogorton
11.06.20 | I think most EW fans will agree with your first and last place!
Have to admit I'm surprised that Come My Fanatics is as low as it is. Enjoyed reading the list though! | tectactoe
11.18.20 | Thanks! To be fair, I really do like/love all of these except for WBW. They all offer something very different and very specific imo, which is pretty impressive given they're all within the same realm of stoner metal. |
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