Review Summary: Rise...rise...rise...rise...rise...rise...rise...rise...Smoke.
It churns slowly like some rusted industrial machine, and screams like the restless spirit of a suffering ghost. It’s loud like a predatorial beast howling from a mountain peak, and paranoid like Black Sabbath. It’s rhythms are deadly and soothing in a sadistic way - as they resonate in your body with a booming presence, your killer instinct is lulled into complacency by the serene chaos in it’s ears. It’s
Electric Wizard. “Dopethrone” is the third full-length album released by the aforementioned doom metal group. The album is portrayed as a wall of sound, a behemoth with loud and lyrically medieval tendencies. Sometimes categorized as “stoner-metal”, “Dopethrone” succeeds in creating an unusual stupefying atmosphere that would be best enjoyed under the influence of marijuana or it’s powerfully psychedelic counterpart, psilocybin. One may think that anything would be but Electric Wizard’s absorbing, dreamy “Dopethrone” is an especially shiny key to psychotropic bliss. This record is simply breathtaking. Electric Wizard demand the attention of listeners with a cynical tone and addictive riffs and hooks; think melodic doom metal. Cathartic sections such as the rocky home stretch of “Funeralopolis”, and the calm before the storm of “Barbarian” in the final six minutes of the movement Altar of Melektaus, part three of “Weird Tales” bring me to a higher plain.
Condemned to die before I could breathe
Millions are screaming, the dead are still living
This Earth has died yet no one has seen
“Dopethrone” tells stories of a fictional Dark Ages where the clouds in the sky are T.H.C. and magic mushrooms are a delicacy. Their most well-known song “Funeralopolis” is an apocalyptic tale of an Earth ruled by zombies – the storyteller claims there is “no reason to live”, he was already “dead in the womb”. “Funeralopolis, planet of the dead…nuclear warheads ready to strike, this world is so ***ed let’s end it tonight.” The song captures this brooding atmosphere with sizzling electric guitars and perfectly synchronized cymbal crashes; lead vocalist Jus Oborn delivers the lyrics heavily with the frenzied howl of a dying man, desperate to be heard. While “Funeralopolis” is quite obviously the most insane, fervent,
hazardous piece of music to be found on this record it certainly isn’t alone in it’s attempts to be that way. The three movements of fifteen minute epic “Weird Tales”, drenched in lyrical references to timeless horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, is one of the most powerful songs I’ve ever heard, and by that I don’t mean emotionally (even though it is emotional) but the song is a sonic boom to be frank. The production is crisp on this one, and you can hear every second of the uproarious wave of tone as clear as crystal – and when the music melts into a constant tranquil rhythm, one can only marvel at the passion of “Dopethrone”.
This album is essentially a pioneer in timbre and music production. While so aggressive and coarse, everything is discernable – every shout, every riff, every crash…the album is described perfectly in the final song by Jus Oborn when he yells out, “Towers, titan sonic wave”. The lyrics are depressing and violent, accompanied by energetic instrumentation straight out of the stoner metal textbook. I could go on for ages describing every bit of perfection that this record is and that’s why it’s so brilliant – it will never age in the first place, it will remain young and relevant and a pinnacle of metallic ingenuity. For so long I waited for the right metal album for me, and when all hope seemed lost in a cognate sea, Electric Wizard brandished the star that led me to this paradise of doom. Highly recommended.
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