Black Masses

Black Masses
Studio album by Electric Wizard
Released	November 1 2010
Recorded	May - August 2010 at Toe Rag Studios in Hackney, London, England
Genre	Doom Metal, Occult Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Length	59:09
Label	Rise Above Records
Producer	Liam Watson, Jus Oborn
Electric Wizard chronology
Electric Wizard / Reverend Bizarre (2008)	Black Masses (2010)	Legalise Drugs and Murder (2012)

Black Masses is the seventh studio album by the Dorset doom metal band Electric Wizard. Returning to Toe Rage Studios with producer Liam Watson, it would serve as a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2007 album Witchcult Today and continues on the occult/psychedelic rock sound established on that album. Released on 1 November 2010, Black Masses would be released to further critical acclaim and commercial success, peaking at #32 on the Finland Charts and #26 on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts.

Background

Work on Black Masses would begin following the touring cycle for Witchcult Today, writing as early as 2008. Guitarist-vocalist Jus Oborn described the album as a "continuation of Witchcult Today in many respects," although he also sees it as part of a lineage composed of Come My Fanatics..., Supercoven, Dopethrone, and Witchcult Today. However, he does draw a contrast between Black Masses and Witchcult Today in that he views the former as "violent, aggressive" and the latter as "mellow and alluring" in an interview for Prefix Magazine conducted by Tim Bugbee. Drugs would heavily influence the writing of the album, as stated by Oborn in the same interview: "It's a good part of my life to a certain degree, so it's hard to separate them. I think our sound is steeped in it to a certain degree, and improvisation is quite a lot based on drugs....You gotta be slightly telepathic and drugs can help that definitely. You can write brilliant music when you're not on drugs, but you don’t have that connection with other musicians, that telepathy. I think that's the important thing for a band, for the musicians.".

The band would attain a new bassist in Tasos Danazoglou but Black Masses would prove to be the only album to feature Tas, as it would also be the last Wizard album to feature drummer Shaun Rutter. Black Masses is also the first Electric Wizard studio album since the self-titled debut to not feature a song spanning over ten minutes (Although the fifth track, "Satyr IX", is close to the mark, clocking in at 9:58.). Black Masses would be initially released on 1 November 2010 via Rise Above Records in Europe and Metal Blade Records in the United States. Along with CD and Vinyl editions, Rise Above would release a "die-hard" box set featuring the album, an embroidered patch, an exclusive poster and an exclusive 16-page comic book entitled Crypt of Drugula.

Black Masses would attain positive reception from most critics. Blabbermouth would award the album a 9/10 score, describing it as "as authoritative a statement from ELECTRIC WIZARD as anything they've released since Dopethrone.". Burning Ambulance would also draw comparisons to Dopethrone, describing Black Masses as "Sonically, it’s the closest the two-guitar version of the band has come to the massive wall of hateful noise the original trio constructed on Dopethrone.". Burning Ambulance would also praise Shaun Rutter's drum performance and cite the album as "easily one of their strongest albums.". The Obelisk would also praise the production of Black Masses, wondering if the band was trying to push the limits of the equipment available. Koczan would also praise "Venus in Furs", citing it as "the best performance Oborn has ever given on vocals, and a prime example of Electric Wizard’s songwriting acumen some 17 years into their tenure.". In closing Koczan would praise Black Masses as one of the best albums of 2010, stating that the album "capitalizes on its every promise" and that Black Masses "shows there’s plenty of cause for all the bands who seem to be worshiping Electric Wizard these days to be doing so."

Tracklist

Electric Wizard Black Masses

All music written by Jus Oborn except where noted. All lyrics by Jus Oborn.

• 1. Black Mass (6:06) (Jus Oborn, Liz Buckingham)
• 2. Venus in Furs (6:22)
• 3. The Nightchild (8:02) (Oborn, Buckingham)
• 4. Patterns of Evil (6:30)
• 5. Satyr IX (9:58)
• 6. Turn Off Your Mind (5:51) (Oborn, Buckingham)
• 7. Scorpio Curse (7:31)
• 8. Crypt of Drugula (8:49)

Personnel

• Justin Oborn - Guitar, Effects, Vocals, Artwork, Layout, Design, Producer
• Elizabeth Buckingham - Guitar, FX
• Tas Danazoglou - Necrobass
• Shaun Rutter - Drums, Battery
• Edryd Turner - Mellotron (3)
• Liam Watson - Engineer, Mixing, Producer
• Ester Segarra - Band Photography

External Links

• / Discogs
• Review via Invisible Oranges
• Review via The Austin Chronicle
• Review via Heavy Planet
• The Heavy Chronicles