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Dopethrone

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Dopethrone
Studio album by
Electric Wizard
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2000 (2000-09-25)
RecordedMay – June 2000
StudioChuckalumba Studios
Genre
LabelRise Above
ProducerRolf Startin
Electric Wizard chronology
Supercoven
(1998) 		Dopethrone
(2000) 		Let Us Prey
(2002)

Dopethrone is a metal album by the British band Electric Wizard. It was released in 2000 by Rise Above Records. Following the release and tour of their previous studio album Come My Fanatics... the group was asked by Rise Above owner Lee Dorian to create a follow-up. Jus Oborn of the group felt the group was going through drug issues and other problems leading to their Dopethrone being a "difficult process to make".[1] The group would enter jam sessions entered Chuckalumba Studios in May 2000 with only three tracks written: "Dopethrone", "Funeralopolis" and "We Hate You..." The album was recorded in three days with members of the group disagreeing during the mixing sessions on how it should sound.

The album was released on September 25, 2000. The group went on tour with Sons of Otis of in England as well as touring in Europe and for the groups first time, in the United States. The album was released to positive reviews from Exclaim!, CMJ New Music Monthly, and The Village Voice. Retrospective reviews had continued to be positive with Decibel placed the album on their list of "Best Stoner Rock" albums in their list of "Top 20 Stoner Rock Albums of All Time" in September 2007 while Terrorizer declared it the album of the decade.

Background and production

Following the release of their 1997 album Come My Fanatics..., Electric Wizard, Sean Palmerston of Exclaim! stated that the group became "pretty much invisible".[2] Jus Oborn of Electric Wizard claimed that the music "isn't pop music, where there's commercial pressure to deliver all the time. This is underground metal where, if you're lucky, you might sell one or two copies".[3] Oborn felt that he was pressured by Lee Dorrian, the owner of Rise Above Records to create a new album.[3] Oborn stated the group all had "drug issues" between the two albums while Tim Bagshaw, the groups bassist, stated he was arrested for breaking into a liquor store and that their drummer Mark Greening fell off his motorcycle and broke his collarbone while Oborn was arrested for setting fire to a Reliant Robin.[1] Oborn felt that the four years between the albums were put into Dopethrone and that making the album was "such a difficult process that it kind of make it worse."[1]

Oborn stated the group thrived on jamming that would occasionally lead to the creation of a song.[3] Prior to entering the studio, only three tracks were written: "Dopethrone", "Funeralopolis" and "We Hate You..."[3] Bagshaw declared he wrote "quite a lot of the album" stating he wrote "Vinum Sabbathi" in about two minutes as well as "I, the Witchfinder", "Golgotha" and "We Hate You".[1] The album's centrepiece titled "Weird Tales" was made entirely within the studio.[3] On discussing the tracks multiple parts, Oborn admitted later declared it "kind of stupid, like prog-rock or some shit."[4] Greening's contributions was hearing with Bagshaw and Oborn had come up with it and drumming to it.[1] The album was recorded at Chuckalumba Studios between May and June 2000.[5] Prior to recording each song, Oborn divulging in both cannabis and cocaine before recording each song while Bagshaw summarized their the group used "copious amounts of weed and booze".[6]

While Bagshaw and Greening both recalled the recording sessions to be mostly about "getting really stoned" and "quite good fun" respectively,[7] Oborn found the initial recording sessions for Dopethrone were about three or four days, with the mixing taking much longer as there were arguments amongst the group members.[8] Oborn stated he argued with the producer Rolf Startin about how the album should sound like.[7] Longer tracks such as "Weird Tales" and "Dopethrone" were done in their first and second takes respectively. Oborn recollected that "back then we didn't have a way to cut it up and just redo one part."[1] The track "Mind Transferal" was recorded for this period but only released later as a bonus track, with Oborn recalling being asked by the label head Lee Dorian to create extra tracks for Japanese releases of the album.[7]

Music

Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune found that unlike American stoner rock bands which drew from punk music, grunge, and heavy metal, the music on Dopethrone was more attuned to early 1970s Black Sabbath and the music of Motörhead.[9] DeRogatis of The Chicago Sun noted the style was primarily known as stoner rock in the United States and "Doom" in the United Kingdom.[10] Greening later spoke on the Electric Wizard albums he worked in 2007, finding that "I wanted something with louder drums. I always regret all the [Electric Wizard] releases, because the drums don't sound loud enough" and that Dopethrone "does not represent the sound I was trying to give off, as with all Electric Wizard releases."[7] Oborn stated the other members of the group wanted to introduce elements of hip hop music and the band Nirvana.[3] Oborn later recalled that Bagshaw was "into some weird shit; he'd listen to Linkin Park and shit like that. Fucking shite. [...] They wanted to put scratching or some shit on one song, and I could've killed them."[11]

Anthony Bartkewicz of Decibel commented that the lyrics of Oborn put Dopethrone More in line with death or black metal than [Black Sabbath]'s "hippie-love brother sentiment."[12] Oborn, who wrote all of the albums lyrics, spoke of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard as an influence on his own writing stating that the writers for the 1920s pulp magazine Weird Tales were a big influence on him not the atmosphere of Lovecraft's work and Howard's "attitude towards society, these anti-civilization rants. That was a big inspiration for me."[13] On specific Lovecraft stories that inspired him, Oborn noted that "The Music of Erich Zann" and "The Dreams in the Witch House" with their themes of the occult being carried into music through time signatures were specifically inspiring to him.[6] Oborn described the themes of some songs such as "Dopethrone" which is about a story he heard about someone who owned a couch made entirely of cannabis. "We Hate You" was inspired by Ozzy Osbourne who Oborn described as "always going about how much he fucking loved everyone, so we thought it would be great to go and do the opposite."[3]

Release

Dopethrone was released on September 25, 2000, by Rise Above Records.[14] The Music Cartel released the album in the United States via mailorder on November 20, 2000. It became available in retail shops in January 2001.[15] The album was reissued in 2004.[16] This 2004 version included the bonus track "Mind Transferal".[17] The 2004 reissue of the album had the track "Dopethrone" edited down from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.[11] When asked about this edit in 2007, Oborn responded he was unaware of the change being made.[11]

Following the release of the album, Electric Wizard toured in 2000 with the group Sons of Otis initially in England on September 27, 2000, followed by shows across Europe including Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. The tour concluded with a final show in England on October 22 in Bradford.[18] Following the tour, Electric Wizard did their first tour of the United States, becoming the first band on he Rise Above Records label to tour the country.[19] The tour began on March 4, and concluded on April 8 with shows at festivals South by Southwest. On the tour, the band predominantly toured with Warhorse while also performing shows with Bongzilla, Cathedral and Converge.[20] On March 7, the three members of Electric Wizard were searched and interrogated for possession of illegal substances in Richmond.[19] Erik Larson of Alabama Thunderpussy who were also performing that day was able to assist the group in getting the police to drop their charges. The band's American label The Music Cartel responded to the even stating that "with a band like the Electric Wizard something like this happening wasn't very far off the mark. I just hope nothing worse happens before the tour is completed."[19] Bagshaw reflected on their American tour as like going to the Vietnam War and that it "strengthened their armor"[11] Greening recollected that tour was "seemed like a good laugh" but the group was "young at the time [...] at times it was soul destroying."[11] Oborn commented more positively on it, stating his excitement about touring the United States and "staying at great hotels, being treated like kings" while noting the group had still argued a lot while on tour.[11]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[21]

From contemporary reviews, CMJ New Music Monthly declared the album to be "for true fans of doom metal, people who don't think "'Iron Man' rip-off" every time they hear detuned chromatic guitar riffs'.[22] Palmerston of Exclaim! declared it "their best effort yet" and "what might be the most over-the-top, loudest doom album ever made" proclaiming that "Whether the band realizes it or not, they have raised the bar by which fuzz/stoner/doom music will be judged."[10] Kot declared the group as "one of England's more single-minded bands" finding Obron's vocals "riotously over-the-top" and the group's interplay was "In a word: H-E-A-V-Y."[9] George Smith of Village Voice declared that the album was "the doom metal equivalent of the Reinigung Gebiet, the German pure-beer standard: bitter and sulfuric to the point of unpalatability, but against which everything else seems watery. "[23] At the end of the year, DeRogatis commented on the album, stating "You're forgiven for saying that all of the above sounds a little bit Spinal Tap [...] But that doesn't negate the fact that Electric Wizard is one of the most intense rock bands pounding the boards anywhere in this new millennium"[10] AllMusic's Ed Rivadavia declared that with Dopethrone, the group "has raised the bar for doom metal achievement in the new millennium -- good luck to the competition."[21]

From retrospective reviews, Decibel placed the album on their list of "Best Stoner Rock" albums in their list of "Top 20 Stoner Rock Albums of All Time" in September 2007. The album placed second on their list right after Black Sabbath's Master of Reality (1971).[24] Terrorizer magazine crowned the album as "Album of the Decade" (2000s).[25]

Among the group, Oborn initially stated he did not want to listen to the album for a long time and that he was unaware of how the album was received by critics or fans until he began their tour to promote it.[4] Bagshaw commented on the album in 2007 stating that he did not care what other people said about the album at the time or at the present period.[4] Oborn commented that he looked fondly on the album in 2011, stating he viewed Come My Fanatics… (1997), Supercoven (1998), and Dopethrone as "the trilogy of terror" and that by the time they go to Dopethrone the group "knew what was needed, or rather I did!"[3] Anthony Bartkewicz of Decibel comments on the album's legacy, finding that on the album, Electric Wizard "epitomized doom metal as a lifestyle" [12]

Track listing

All songs performed by Electric Wizard. Lyrics by Jus Oborn.[5][26]

Original Issue
No.TitleLength
1."Vinum Sabbathi"3:06
2."Funeralopolis"8:43
3."Weird Tales"
  • I. "Electric Frost"
  • II. "Golgatha"
  • III. "Altar of Melektaus"
15:05
4."Barbarian"6:29
5."I, The Witchfinder"11:04
6."The Hills Have Eyes"0:47
7."We Hate You"5:09
8."Dopethrone"10:25

Credits

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the album.[5]

  • Jus Oborn – guitar, vocals, effects, lyrics, artwork, design
  • Tim Bagshaw – bass, fuzz bass, effects
  • Mark Greening – credited as "assault and battery"
  • Electric Wizard – performer, and "deranger"
  • Rolf Startin – mixing, producer
  • Josh Stephen – assistant
  • Hugh Gilmour – artwork, design, photography
  • Tom Bagshaw – cover art

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Bartkewicz 2007, p. 75.
  2. ^ Palmerston 2001.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Dome 2011.
  4. ^ a b c Bartkewicz 2007, p. 78.
  5. ^ a b c Dopethrone [liner notes] (Media notes). Electric Wizard. Rise Above Records. RISELP073.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ^ a b Bartkewicz 2007, p. 76.
  7. ^ a b c d Bartkewicz 2007, p. 77.
  8. ^ Bartkewicz 2007, p. 76-77.
  9. ^ a b Kot 2001.
  10. ^ a b c DeRogatis 2001.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Bartkewicz 2007, p. 79.
  12. ^ a b Bartkewicz 2007, p. 71.
  13. ^ Bartkewicz 2007, p. 74-75.
  14. ^ "Electric Wizard". Rise Above Records. Archived from the original on 12 October 2000. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  15. ^ "Electric Wizard's 'Dopethrone' Coming to the U.S.!!". The Music Cartel. 8 November 2000. Archived from the original on 4 December 2000. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  16. ^ "New Releases". Music Week. 7 August 2004. p. 30.
  17. ^ "13/8/04 Big Black & Dopethrone Re-issues Now in St". Rise Above Records. 13 August 2004. Archived from the original on 12 December 2004. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  18. ^ "Electric Wizard Tour Dates 2000 (With Sons of Otis)". Rise Above Records. Archived from the original on 19 November 2000. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  19. ^ a b c "Rise Above News". Rise Above Records. Archived from the original on 7 June 2002. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Electric Wizard USA Tour 2001". Rise Above Records. Archived from the original on 11 February 2002. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  21. ^ a b Rivadavia.
  22. ^ Behrman 2001.
  23. ^ Smith 2001.
  24. ^ Green 2007, p. 69.
  25. ^ Stewart-Panko 2011.
  26. ^ Dopethrone [2000 liner notes] (Media notes). Electric Wizard. Rise Above Records. CDRISE 27.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

Sources

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