Electric Wizard’s latest offering, Black Magic Rituals and Perversions, Vol. 1, is a harrowing descent into doom metal’s darkest realms. Set to drop December 13, 2024, via Spinefarm Records, this live-to-tape double album captures the band at their rawest and most unrelenting. With a tracklist that reads like a greatest-hits session forged in hell, it offers a visceral experience that pays homage to the band’s roots while pushing their apocalyptic vision to new extremes.Track Listing
- Dopethrone
- Incense for the Damned
- Black Mass
- Witchcult Today
- Satanic Rites of Drugula
- Scorpio Curse
- The Chosen Few
- Funeralopolis
Recorded during the pandemic on a 16-track tape machine in the English Westcountry, the album embraces a lo-fi ethos that amplifies its ferocity. Jus Oborn’s description of the album as “raw as f**k” is no exaggeration. The analog warmth envelops each track, blending bone-crushing riffs, suffocating grooves, and psychedelic overtones into a soundscape that feels as much alive as it does destructive.
- “Dopethrone”: The album starts with an unrelenting reimagining of this Electric Wizard classic. The sheer weight of the guitars paired with Oborn’s guttural chants immediately sets the tone.
- “Witchcult Today”: Slow, hypnotic, and sinister, this track delivers a trance-inducing groove that feels like a descent into a black mass.
- “Satanic Rites of Drugula”: Psychedelic undertones swirl around monolithic riffs, conjuring a macabre narrative of vampiric excess.
- “Funeralopolis”: The album closes with this iconic apocalyptic anthem, delivered with an intensity that solidifies the record’s unholy climax.
Electric Wizard doesn’t just play music—they summon it. Black Magic Rituals and Perversions, Vol. 1 is steeped in occult imagery, dystopian despair, and nihilistic chaos. The album’s unpolished edge enhances its thematic grit, transporting listeners to the shadowy corners of doom metal’s psyche.
This is Electric Wizard at their peak: raw, unfiltered, and utterly uncompromising. Black Magic Rituals and Perversions, Vol. 1 stands as a testament to the band’s enduring power and commitment to their craft. A must-listen for fans and a baptism by fire for newcomers, the album delivers a visceral soundtrack to the apocalypse that only Electric Wizard could conjure.
Prepare for the ritual—the abyss awaits.
