Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

After the nearly five-year drought between Come My Fanatics and last year'smonstrous Dopethrone, Let Us Prey arrives after an uncharacteristicshort absence for Dorset doom crew Electric Wizard. But not surprisingly, thosefamiliar with the Wiz should have a pretty good idea of what to expect from theBrits' fourth full-length as their minimal influences remain intact: BlackSabbath records and copious amounts of Mary Jane.

That said, the strangely succinct 43-minute Let Us Prey (compared to the71-minute Dopethrone marathon) is actually the first multi-dimensionalalbum of the band's eight-year career. The initial winds of change gust with"We, the Undead"-an explosion of Black Flag-meets-Eyehategod-inspiredgutter punk energy that one doesn't readily associate with the Wiz'snucleus of plodding, soul-draining dirges. Then there's the creepy neo-jazzdrumming of the piano-driven "Night of the Shape," which has more incommon with Dario Argento scorers Goblin than, say, Orange Goblin. Punk rock numbersand freeform instrumentals notwithstanding, it's the increasing employmentof psychedelia in tracks like "A Chosen Few" and the closing sonic alchemyof "Priestess of Mars" that help the band make their case for world'smost powerful power trio status. The Wiz have discovered there is only so longyou can continue to pummel with the hand of doom before it stops having an effecton your victim-a lesson groups like Thrones and Khanate would do well tolearn.