Before I started “The Daily Vault,” if you asked me what I
considered stoner rock to be, I probably would have named bands
like Hawkwind, Iron Butterfly… and even my beloved Grateful Dead.
(C’mon, don’t act surprised. I was at the final show, and I saw all
the nitrous canisters out in the parking lot, amongst other
things.)
These days, it seems like “stoner rock” is making a comeback,
with all new faces in all new places. The sound is often similar:
ringing bass tones, more plodding beats and laid-back but powerful
delivery styles. Sometimes, such a combination is deadly, like when
we reviewed Sleep’s
Jerusalem. (One chord change, that’s all I asked for… one
lousy friggin’ chord change!)
Then, there are bands like Electric Wizard, whose 1997 release
Come My Fanatics… has been released in the States,
packaged with their self-titled first album. After the critical
firebombing I gave Sleep, one might think that I was totally
against stoner rock. But Electric Wizard prove early and often that
this genre can be made interesting and kept that way for the course
of an album… though I do wonder if including the debut was the
greatest idea.
Oh, it’s not that disc two of this set is bad; it’s just that
you can quickly hear the differences between the first outings of a
young band and the second effort of a group with more experience
and polish. But guitarist/vocalist Jus Oborn, bassist Tim Bagshaw
and drummer Mark Greening do manage to keep both discs enjoyable
and entertaining – something that some groups today can’t say they
can do on one disc.
Disc one – the actual album
Come My Fanatics… – is the album that is closest to true
stoner rock, with drawn-out intros and grooves so heavy they could
crush a car. Most of the six selections on this disc clock in at
eight minutes or more, but the tracks themselves are so
well-written that the time seems to fly by. Songs like “Return
Trip,” “Son Of Nothing” and “Doom – Mantia” are both powerful and
entertaining, with all three musicians turning in admirable
performances.
If anything, I almost found myself wishing that more material
had been included on
Come My Fanatics…, which clocks in at just over 50
minutes. Electric Wizard shows that they have the talent to push
this genre to a whole new level; it’s almost like they stopped just
before they reached that new plateau, leaving the listener hanging
a little bit.
Compared to the jams on the first disc, the remixed
Electric Wizard on disc two is short, by comparison. Only
the track “Electric Wizard” goes the distance in length, and except
for a little spaciness at the end, it makes use of its time well.
Other tracks that stand out include “Devils Bride,” “Stone Magnet”
and “Mountains Of Mars”.
Is listening to a group like Electric Wizard going to make you
want to dust off the hookah and take a big breath in? Get serious;
“stoner rock,” while it may accurately describe some people’s
lifestyles, is just a term for this genre of hard rock. But
Come My Fanatics… proves not only that this genre is here
to stay for a while, but it could well become an art form that
Electric Wizard is close to mastering.
