Let Us Prey

Let Us Prey
One of many variations on the album cover, depicting a first-person view of an eagle pecking one's eyes out.
Studio album by Electric Wizard
Released	March 25 2002
Recorded	September - October, 2001 at Chuckalumba Studios in Dorset, England
Genre	Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Experimental
Length	43:51
Producer	John Stephens, Doug Shearer
Electric Wizard chronology
Dopethrone (2000)	Let Us Prey (2002)	We Live (2004)

Let Us Prey is the fourth studio album by Electric Wizard. Released initially in 2002 on Rise Above Records, JVC Victor and The Music Cartel it served as a more experimental follow-up to 2000's Dopethrone though a few of the songs were being performed on their 2001 tours by that point such as Master of Alchemy and Mother of Serpents.

It is also known as being the final studio album to feature Electric Wizard's original lineup as Tim Bagshaw and Mark Greening would both quit the band in that same year. Both of them would later go on to form Ramesses while Oborn recruited new members and restarted the band as a four-piece.

Background and Aftermath

Let Us Prey was recorded by the band over the course of six weeks between September and October 2001. Like their previous albums they expressed a tendency to write songs while in the studio, even going to far to stay the night in the studio, sleeping bags and all. Let Us Prey is the only Electric Wizard studio album to not feature any lyrics, leaving fans to decipher for themselves. The back cover features a quote from the closing pages of the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Outsider".

The album was initially released on Rise Above Records on CD in March 2002 and via The Music Cartel on CD and a single LP in April 2002. The band would tour the United States and Europe in support of the record but by the end of these tours the band was clearly at odds, even supposedly stating at one show that "This is the last Electric Wizard show ever". Mark Greening would leave in the summer of 2002 and be replaced by Justin Greaves, leading to a tour of Europe that same year with Cathedral. At the end of that tour, Tim Bagshaw departed as well, leaving the band on hiatus until Rob Al-Issa and Liz Buckingham joined in 2004.

In 2006, Rise Above Records would re-issue Let Us Prey (Along with all of the studio albums up to We Live) with re-mastered sound, a vinyl 2LP edition and the bonus track Mother of Serpents, previously only available on the JVC Victor Japanese edition.

In the July 2009 issue of Kerrang!, Jus Oborn spoke about the album:

“	“"I think that was our Genesis record. We were all just about the studio, and we wanted to create music using the studio. We were really into the idea of recording then, this pretty technical album. We wanted to be experimental, like trying out some horror movie type stuff, just to see how it works. Each song was like an idea, we didn't write it. We just got an idea, and went with that for how we wanted that to sound.”	”
	— Jus Oborn, Kerrang!

Tracklist

All music written by Electric Wizard. All lyrics by Jus Oborn.

• ...A Chosen Few - 6:35
• We, The Undead - 4:29
• Master of Alchemy i) House of Whipcord ii) The Black Drug - 9:23
• The Outsider - 9:19
• Night of the Shape - 4:03
• Priestess of Mars - 10:01
• Mother of Serpents - 5:56 (Bonus Track on Japanese & Reissued editions)

Personnel

• Jus Oborn - Guitar, Vocals, Lyrics
• Mark Greening - Drums, Piano
• Tim Bagshaw - Bass, Effects
• Paul Sax - Violin on "Night of the Shape"
• John Stephens - Engineering, Mixing, Recording
• Doug Shearer - Mastering
• Stephen O'Malley - Artwork

External Links

• Let Us Prey on Discogs
• 15th Anniversary Tribute