Proprietors of sludgy, acid-kick to the senses metal, Electric Wizard are back with Wizard Bloody Wizard, and by the sounds of things they're not f***ing around.
"There’s a lot of fire in the album, it’s really punchy," says founding member and frontman Jus Oborn in an interview with Metal Injection. "I guess with the new lineup we felt invigorated. It was almost like a new band in some ways and there was a lot of excitement that came from that. It’s a much more rock ‘n’ roll kind of album, where the last one was kind of a depressing like dirge, a funeral march pretty much. This one was meant to be a lot more energized. It’s kind of like bursting out of the grave, ready to f***ing kill again."
A year away from the band's 25th anniversary, there has been a conscious effort from all parties involved to evoke a stripped down, back-to-basics feel with Wizard Bloody Wizard. The end result is an album that feels deeply rooted in early doom metal, with modern sensibilities at its core.
"I wanted to create something kind of timeless and outside of trend," says Oborn. "We’ve done a lot of albums, you know? I wouldn’t want to slip into a formula and there seems to be a danger of that, almost. There was a very Electric Wizard way to do things. Maybe that was being created outside of us by people’s perceptions of what they want the band to do. We found we really needed to connect with the original influences of the band and the influences that inspired me to pick up a guitar really – Hendrix, Ioomi, Jimmy Page, just getting back to that and building it up from the beginning again. If I imagined that we were going to record more albums and move on it had to be a change."
As is custom, Wizard Bloody Wizard consists of tasty churning riffs, dark foreboding tones, and themes that range from the occult to drug-fueled sexcapades. It's Electric Wizard in a nutshell. Never expect anything less.
"It’s kind of set up writing all the things we actually enjoy in life, you know?" Oborn explains. "I enjoy the dark side, exploring darker human nature. I like horror movies and horror comics. We like sex, we like f***ing. It’s sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in that order with Electric Wizard, pretty much."
Wizard Bloody Wizard is available everywhere November 17th. Listen to the the leadoff single "See You In Hell" below.
