Special Features: Remastered. Bonus track. Artwork by Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O))), Burning Witch, Khanate).
Tracklisting:
- ...A Chosen Few
- We, the Undead
- Master of Alchemy I. House of Whipcord II. The Black Drug
- The Outsider
- Night of the Shape
- Priestess of Mars
- Mother of Serpents (Bonus Track)
Release Date: 2006
Label: Rise Above Records
Origin: England
Jus Oborn has done it again, as the follow-up to the legendary Dopethrone is every bit as good, if not better. This is my favorite Electric Wizard album, and possibly my favorite doom album in general. This album is darker than any of their others, and it creates a true sense of overwhelming doom. Production-wise, everything sounds clearer than Dopethrone, which maybe makes it sound less heavy, but it contributes more to the album than anything. The guitars are still extremely distorted and downtuned and bassy. Jus Oborn's riffage is consistently heavy and doomy and always the center of attention, while his singing is distorted beyond intelligibility and put behind everything else, giving a sort of suffocating sound to them. Tim Bagshaw's bass playing compliments Oborn's guitar, adding to the heaviness, and Mark Greening's drumming is solid as always.
The album starts off with ...a Chosen Few, which begins with guitar feedback before phasing into the trademark impossibly heavy riffage. Most of the songs consist of two or three different riffs that drone on and on, with stonery leads and feedback weaving in and out of them. It's incredibly effective and entrancing. There are two songs that deviate from this: We, the Undead and Night of the Shape. We, the Undead is by far the most... 'active' song in Electric Wizard's entire catalogue. It's different from anything they've ever done, with some fast (for them, anyway) riffage and insanely distorted screaming. It seems to be an experimental type of song for them, and I suppose it could be a turn-off if you're not expecting it, but it's a really powerful and enjoyable song once the initial 'shock' is overcome. The other atypical song here is Night of the Shade, which centers itself around a piano-riff, of all things, with a midpaced drum beat and swirling sounds. It's dark and dreamlike, almost horror film-like, and it fits the mood of the album perfectly. The highlight of the album is probably Master of Alchemy, an instrumental that contains what is probably the darkest section of any Electric Wizard song from about 3:30 to the end.
Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who's a fan of doom and stoner. It's mindnumbly crushing, dark, and heavy album that any fan of heavy music can appreciate. As others have said, it's more experimental than previous releases, but it definitely pays off in the end. With Let Us Prey, Electric Wizard once again delivers us some of the best doom in the business. - Exystence