Review: Electric Wizard - Time to Die
By Sam Carroll, Contributor
[Witchfinder/Spinefarm, 2014]
Rating: 8.5/10
Key Tracks: “Incense for the Damned,” “Time to Die,” “Funeral of Your Mind”
An announcement that Electric Wizard is releasing an album usually draws one of three responses: “I’m excited,” “Is it another Dopethrone?” or “Electric Wizard isn’t what it used to be.” Don’t get me wrong--Dopethrone is pretty wicked, but I want to hear something more than static noise blasting through the stereo.
Time to Die is Electric Wizard’s eighth studio album. It’s the band’s first indepenent release, as well as the first album in 12 years to feature original drummer Mark Greening. In terms of structure and sound, Time to Die parallels the band’s early material and newer albums.
“Incense for the Damned” kicks the album off with audio of a gurgling stream and a newsreel about serial killer Ricky Kasso before fading into fuzzed out guitars and a drum fill mimicking a marching tempo. The lyrics are curt with their message: “I don’t give a fuck about anyone / Or your society.”
This is not a clean-cut record: It’s loud, aggressive and sludgy. Guitars and bass are saturated with distortion and blistering, warped solos as the drums belch out slow, heavy rhythms. The overall effect is not only dark, but also helps convey the lyrics’ brooding tone.
Vocally, this is Jus Oborn’s best delivery. It is the first time he really explores his talent by honing his voice’s tone to emphasize sorrow and anger, especially in the title track’s chorus.
2007’s Witchcult Today and 2010’s Black Masses revolved around the theme of B-grade horror movies and the occult, but felt kind of tacky. Time to Die branches into darker territory by revolving around the theme of death with such genuine delivery it bleeds through the speakers. For any Electric Wizard purists let down by the previous three albums, this latest work reinforces why the band is one of the heaviest bands England’s churned out.
Fellow English heavy metal band Black Sabbath has a heavy influence in Electric Wizard’s sound. The rhythm and main riff in “Lucifer’s Slaves” shows strong similarity to Sabbath's “Hand of Doom." It doesn’t serve to copy Sabbath, but more so to show appreciation for the sound.
For as abrasive and evil as this album is, it does have a few minor hiccups. Some of the riffs sound like they were recycled from Black Masses and altered to provide a fresh sound. The riff in “Time to Die” sounds similar to the one found in “Scorpio Curse.” Other than its pitch, “SadioWitch” sounds dead-on the opening riff in “Black Mass.” Some fans might consider it a rampant carbon copy, though this would be an exaggeration.
Time to Die is the best album Electric Wizard’s released in far too long. It’s refreshing to hear Oborn and Greening’s style working together again on one more album. The album has a darkness found on early material while maintaining the complexity found on newer albums. It displays the band finally breaking away from its tame leash to chase after the roots that put the band on the map.
