UMUR
"Come My Fanatics..." is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK doom metal act Electric Wizard. The album was released through Rise Above Records in January 1997.
Compared to their 1995 self-titled debut, which featured a doom metal style strongly influenced by especially Cathedral, the music on "Come My Fanatics..." features a much more personal sound. We´re talking filthy, distorted and fuzzy sounding stoner doom metal. Bass heavy enough to blow your speakers if you´re not careful. The pace is slow but the riffs are rythmic and crushingly heavy. So this is not slow "long chord" doom metal. While the debut was a somewhat neutral experience in terms of mood, "Come My Fanatics..." reeks anger and dark emotion. The vocals by Jus Oborn are aggressive and raw/shouting and delivered in a very convincing fashion.
The album opens with "Return Trip" and "Wizard in Black", which are both examples of Electric Wizard when they are best. Those two tracks kick so much ass, that it´s impossible not to bang your head in slow nods while your mouth uncontrollably screams: "Hell Yeahhh...". "Doom-Mantia" continues the heavy attack but in a more psychadelic and repetitive fashion. "Ivixor B / Phase Inducer" opens pretty strong but soon becomes stoned sound noodling and at 8:45 minutes I find this part of the album to be too long unnecessary experimentation. With "Son of Nothing" we´re back to the ultra heavy and fuzzy stoner doom attack of the first two tracks and my lips form a smile again. "Solarian 13", which closes the album, is a jamming type track. Pretty nice ending to a, for the most part, really great album.
While especially "Ivixor B / Phase Inducer" drags my rating down, my overall impression of "Come My Fanatics..." is very positive. The musicianship is strong, the sound production heavy as fuck and momentarily the songwriting is top notch too. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.