ELECTRIC WIZARD — Black Masses (review)

ELECTRIC WIZARD — Black Masses album cover Album · 2010 · Stoner Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
J-Man
Turn Off Your Mind...

As a person that's never tried drugs in his entire life, one may suspect that I'm missing out on a key aspect of Black Masses. This is one of the trippiest albums I've ever heard, with guitar sounds that are dirty enough to pass from the late 1960's and doomy, sludgy riffs galore. Black Masses is repetitive, monotonous, and has very little variation, but fans of Electric Wizard should expect that by now. When it boils down to my own personal enjoyment, I find my mind wandering after the first couple of songs, and (unfortunately) it seldom returns. This isn't an album for people who like their music to be clean, precise, or emotional - this is rock n' roll in its dirtiest, filthiest, and most unpolished form. People who enjoy Electric Wizard's brand of doom metal should find themselves thoroughly enjoying Black Masses - I'm not sure that I've been totally convinced, though.

The music here is raw, old school doom metal in the vein of Black Sabbath, or even some 60's psych-rock acts. While this sounds like a good concept, the compositions are surprisingly dull and variation is kept to a minimum. While I obviously wasn't expecting any ballads here, every song is based off of a sludgy riff which, in some cases, sounds eerily similar to one another. Picking one song out of the crowd is a difficult task, especially when one considers the ridiculously long playing time. For an album with very little distinction between tracks, a 60 minute playing time is just tedious. There are a few moments here and there that grab my attention, but they are too few and far between to warrant such a running length. The positives here mainly lie in the quality of the musicianship and the retro-sounding production values. Although the production is definitely an acquired taste, it fits the music well and is an instant transporter back to 1969. The drums sound especially excellent as a result of the somewhat muddy production.

Conclusion:

Black Masses should please fans of Electric Wizard, though my personal enjoyment is very limited. People who like old school doom metal and are okay with an extremely repetitive listen should like this album a fair amount. Rating an album like this is difficult, but for now I'll go with 2.5 stars. Although I wouldn't recommend Black Masses to many people I know, there's a market out there that would tremendously enjoy this type of album. As far as my money is concerned, I'll turn elsewhere.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed