Black Magic Rituals & Perversions Vol. 1 Electric Wizard

• 1 Dopethrone (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 09:29
• 2 Incense For The Damned (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 09:11
• 3 Black Mass (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 07:02
• 4 Witchcult Today (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 10:21
• 5 Satanic Rites Of Drugula (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 06:55
• 6 Scorpio Curse (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 08:57
• 7 The Chosen Few (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 11:10
• 8 Funeralopolis (Live Walpurgisnacht 2020) 11:10
• Total Runtime 01:14:15

Info for Black Magic Rituals & Perversions Vol. 1

As the COVID pandemic took hold in 2020 and lockdown restricted movement to your immediate surrounds, the legendary British doom outfit wondered if they might ever play live again. Out in the wilds of the English Westcountry, where singer / guitarist Jus Oborn and guitarist Liz Buckingham live, the band descended into their crypt-like jam space to make a live album like no other.

With no audience, and no actual plan to release what they came out with, they recorded themselves into a 16-track tape machine to capture their essence, their male violence, their heaviness.

“We’d been gigging for two years at that point, aroundAmerica three times, going to Japan and Australia, and we were sounding pretty good by the end of it,” says Jus.“When the pandemic happened, we thought, ‘Fuck it, maybe we’ll never play again.’ So we went into the jam room and played the songs to get them on tape to capture how we were playing at the time.”

The final product, ‘Black Magic Rituals & Perversions Vol.1’, is as raw and heavy as one would expect from TheWizard.

Formed in 1993, Electric Wizard's brand of doom metal incorporates stoner and sludge traits, with lyrics focusing on the occult, witchcraft, H.P. Lovecraft, horror films, and cannabis. Black Magic Rituals & Perversions Vol.1, a one-take dungeon session, features some of their most classic moments, captured live, raw and uncensored. This is a career-defining collection, and a must-have for followers of this iconic British metal band.

Electric Wizard

Electric Wizard
are a doom metal band hailing from Bournemouth, UK who since their formation in 1993 have helped shaped the genre producing iconic releases such as “Come My Fanatics” and “Dopethrone”.

Rising from the ashes of former band Lord of Putrefaction- Justin Osborn (lead guitar, vocal), Tim Bagshaw (bass) and Mark Greening (drums) came together in 1993. Taking inspiration from two Black Sabbath tracks “Electric Funeral” and “The Wizard” and compounding the titles, the trio had found the their new name and thus Electric Wizard was born. Their debut track “Demon Lung” was released later that year as a split single alongside Our Haunted Kingdom (who would later be known as Orange Goblin).

In 1995 the trio signed London based independent label Rise Above Records where they released their debut self-titled album the following year. Falling comfortably into the doom metal genre, the band were able to make quite an impression with critics as they praised the fine quality of stoner metal showing incredible promise.

By the time the band had released their follow up album “Come My Fanatics” in 1997, their sound had greatly evolved incorporating more elements of grunge which assisted in creating Electric Wizard’s distinctive sound. The album not only showcased their new and improved sound but also acted as a defining moment in the band’s career as the album featured at number 37 in Terrorizer magazine’s top 50 definitive doom albums list.

After the release of the album, the band would find them plagued by a series of unfortunate events with everything ranging from: broken limbs, burst eardrums to various legal issues and battles. Despite these seemingly major setbacks, the band appeared unaffected as they released the “Supercoven” EP in 1998 followed the musical masterpiece “Dopethrone” in 2000. As a pivotal album in the doom metal genre with more intricate and aggressive tones and rhythms, Electric Wizard had carved their name in stone resulting in Terrorizer magazine naming it as Album of the Century.

In 2002, Electric Wizard released their fourth album “Let Us Prey” and on their North American tour to support its release, tension grew between band members which led them to announce their forthcoming split. However despite releasing the statement regarding the split, the band continued and parted ways with Greening and Bagshaw in 2003 who went on to form the band Ramesses. In their place, Electric Wizard welcomed Justin Greaves, Rob Al-Issa and Liz Buckingham to the line-up.

The band continued to tour the album in Australia and England releasing the album “We Live” in 2004. Electric Wizard’s sixth studio album “Witchcult Today” released in 2007 saw the band achieve similar success to the critically acclaimed “Dopethrone”. Using only vintage 70’s recording equipment the album featured the 11 minute instrumental "Black Magic Rituals & Perversions” taking audiences on a soundscape journey of varying elements of metal as the band really showcased their innate ability to create monumental and earth-shattering rhythms.

With a few more replacements along the way, the band line-up in 2014 included original member Jus Obsorn with Liz Buckingham, Clayton Burgess and Simon Poole as they released their eighth album “Time To Die” produced by Osborn.

In their lengthy career, the band have played festivals such as Roadburn, Roskilde, Reverence, Hellfest and Damnation providing their definitive infusion of grunge and doom metal and reaffirming their stature as an instrumental band in the genre’s development.

This album contains no booklet.