Electric Wizard Black Magic Rituals and Perversions Vol. 1

When you reach the level as a band where your discography and prolificity hits the multi-decade mark, you're entitled to release (or re-release) whatever the hell you want sometimes. Enter Electric Wizard's upcoming Black Magic Rituals and Perversions Vol. 1. Call it a reimagining of their most Wizard-y tunes - Black Magic Rituals and Perversions Vol. 1 is a re-recording of eight of Electric Wizard's earlier, and some might call best, work. The only difference is these versions were recorded live on a 16-track tape machine "deep in the English Westcountry during the pandemic" - according to my provided pre-release notes - and gives all of these tunes a "lost-demo vibe" that's distinctly different than most of their albums. 

Fuzzy, droning guitars over crashing cymbals, pounding drums, and frontman Jus Oborn's signature wail (self-described as "raw as fuck") teleport you back into a time of cutoff jeans, cigarettes and weed, and listening to Black Sabbath through a cloud of bong smoke for the first time in your parent's basement (or at least I'm imagining that's what it was like).

Old fans will recognize opener “Dopethrone”, one of EW's best-known tunes and rightfully so - Oborn and crew go hard for 9 and 1/2 minutes with Oborn sneering "In this land of sorcery/Vision through THC/Holy feedback, it will free" over loud AF squealing guitars and multi-minute wandering solos. Voiceover clips from old school biker gang movies extolling the virtues of freedom and weed set the stage for Oborn to croon, "I don't give a fuck about anyone or your society" during "Incense for the Damned", another highlight. Closer “Funerapolis” begins with winding guitar work over presumably Oborn inhaling and exhaling his favorite herb, before launching into a punishing 11-minute opus of world-weary groovy black metal.

Much like the topless picture of a female bound by a microphone cord adorning the cover of Black Magic Rituals and Perversions Vol.1, most of EW's fuzzy and scuzzy discography is enjoyed through a cloud of aforementioned bong smoke, especially as the tunes begin to run over one another.

Not to say it all sounds the same, but if you would pull 3-4 minutes from snippy and sacrilegious “Black Mass” and told me it was “Satanic Rites of Drugula” instead, I'd believe you. Electric Wizard has a distinct and cannabis-infused flavor, and you have to be ready to ride the rainbow road in order to enjoy it.  

Bottom Line: Clocking in at over 70 minutes, with a few songs blowing through the double digit minute mark, Black Magic Rituals and Perversions Vol. 1, is a long, winding road of Electric Wizard's own brand of black/doom/stoner metal and all its side streets. Existing fans will know all of these tunes and enjoy the different and raw vibe the live recording gives this album. Those same fans will wish some new material existed on BM&RP Vol. 1, and it would hard to blame them as aside from a few singles released in 2021, it's been over 7 years since the last full-length. Oborn and Co. still got the sneer and sleaze well into their 50s, which is definitely worth something.