25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

Engine · 10-14-2011, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

11. Electric Wizard—Witchcult Today (2007)

The time has come .
All the chosen, time to put down your bongs.
Take up a knife, end all life.
Legalise drugs and murder.
—"The Chosen Few" Electric Wizard

In a world teetering on the edge of obliteration the line between camp and violence is strangely blurred. The orgy of sex and drugs that has been consuming much of the world for a while now flies completely off the rails and begins to spiral into rampant sadism and thrill killing. Now bizarre hipster death cults begin to spring up. Their soundtrack? Electric Wizard's Witchcult Today.

These guys have many fantastic albums, in fact I'd argue that all the albums I've heard by them—which are all except two of their LPs for anyone who's counting—are pretty stellar. Witchcult Today, though, is my favorite of the admittedly amazing bunch. It's always sounded to me like lying on a threadbare, musty couch in a hastily sheetrocked hallway, stoned out of your mind, bellbottom-clad legs draped over the armrest, listening to your buddy's metal band blasting through the walls of their practice space circa 1975. Not the actual 1975 but rather some cooler, better, more exciting 1975 where things were even more messed up—and fuzzed out metal bands were far, far heavier.

Similar to the previous album I reviewed here (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult's 13 Above the Night) this album manages to function on a campy, tongue-firmly-in-cheek level and on a nihilistic, bleak-as-hell level simultaneously, which when you think about it is really a pretty impressive feat. For Earth's final moments of wild, hedonistic abandon I can think of no better score.

Excellent write-up as usual. It made me feel so happy about our sick apocalyptic existence that I think I'll go play some Electric Wizard for the girl I've got tied to my water heater. I'm sure she'll enjoy it. She'd better.

RVCA · 10-17-2011, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

This reminds me, I've been meaning to look into more Electric Wizard. Dopethrone is good enough, but it teeters on the edge of fantastic and just barely fails to tip the balance in their favor. Perhaps some of their other albums will tickle my fancy more.

**Janszoon** · 10-17-2011, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine

Excellent write-up as usual. It made me feel so happy about our sick apocalyptic existence that I think I'll go play some Electric Wizard for the girl I've got tied to my water heater. I'm sure she'll enjoy it. She'd better.

Thanks man!

**Janszoon** · 10-17-2011, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surell

That Electric Wizard is murderous. I've been meaning to check them out for awhile now, they came up on my Stoner/Doom Metal station on Pandora and they were a favorite of mine (along with EYEHATEGOD). If this is a favorite of yours then i will mos def check it out- i think what they played mostly on that station was from Dopethrone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVCA

This reminds me, I've been meaning to look into more Electric Wizard. Dopethrone is good enough, but it teeters on the edge of fantastic and just barely fails to tip the balance in their favor. Perhaps some of their other albums will tickle my fancy more.

Witchcult Today is definitely worth a listen for both of you. If you like it, I'd definitely recommend checking out Come My Fanatics next.

jackhammer · 10-18-2011, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Witchcult Today is definitely worth a listen for both of you. If you like it, I'd definitely recommend checking out Come My Fanatics next.

I still have only ever heard Dopethrone and for one reason or another I have never got around to hearing anything else at all from these guys. This should be remedied.

blankety blank · 11-18-2011, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Lee is such a bastard. No doubt his choices will mean that I will have to download more stuff as his tastes are far too good and I won't have heard of half of them.

You don't to have the variety of genre that I though you mentioned.

But, you did mention 10,000 Maniacs, and would have married Natalie Merchant. She was just really sexy in odd way. I think she is beautiful, arguably I'm sure. Is R.E.M. on your list?

peace

**Janszoon** · 12-02-2011, 09:03 PM

10. Clark—Turning Dragon (2008)

A lone astronaut pilots a tiny ship up through the atmosphere in one final massive technological leap forward for humankind. Her goal is simple research, one last vague hope that maybe, somehow, a cure for Earth's terminal prognosis might be discovered. She rises out of the violet haze of the outer atmosphere and into the brilliant glare of pure, unfiltered sunlight. On this side of the planet things seems peaceful, almost. With precise manipulations of the ship's controls she banks to one side and begins to make her way toward the dark side of the Earth. The trip takes a few hours but eventually the sun begins to retreat behind her home planet in the ship's rear cameras. Then abruptly, like the shoulder of some pale monster, the curvature of the moon becomes visible, blurred slightly by a haze of debris. As the moon grows larger, she begins to notice flashes above the Earth, chunks of lunar detritus burning up as they skip across the atmosphere.

If there is one album that can capture the beauty and grandeur of such a scenario—as well as the icy brutality—surely it's Clark's Turning Dragon. His other albums, at least the few I've heard, are good—a sort of mellow, trip-hop inflected take on IDM—but this one is truly something special, with an unusual, brittle production style that I find particularly appealing. He comes out of the gate at full throttle with "New Year Storm", quite possibly the best track on the album, a hard-edged driving song of cosmic proportions—the kind of sound you could imagine reverberating throughout the cosmos, emanating back through time to no less than the birth cries of the universe itself. For several more tracks the album continues in this vein, with each one functioning almost like a movement in a symphony—severe, crushing and gorgeous. Things calm down a bit with "Ache of the North", a track which does in fact have a potent aching quality to it, the sound of massive ice crystals drifting slowly, lifelessly through a once thriving solar system. Appropriately, the penultimate track, "BEG", is probably the most challenging—or certainly the most noisy and dissonant. This song pulls off the amazing trick of sounding raw and destructive while also sounding vast and austere, though it does transition from the former to the later over the course of it's running time, which gives in a nice narrative feel.

So our pilot continues on, placing herself between the Earth and Moon, transmitting data back home, frost shimmering on her windows. Below her, the occasional satellite is obliterated by a stray moon rock. Below her the flashes continue. She is entranced by them momentarily, finding them not so much frightening as oddly sublime. For the moment her mind goes blank, transfixed by what is happening below. When she does finally glance upward again, a plummeting gray boulder occupies her entire field of vision. For one seemingly infinite moment she observes every contour of its surface—every crack, every welt. Abruptly her ship explodes in a shower of ice and steel and blood. It shimmers in the sky for a millisecond then just as quickly it's gone.

Trollheart · 12-03-2011, 12:42 PM

And the moral is: when you're piloting a spacecraft KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE VIEWSCREEN, WOMAN!!!

bob. · 12-04-2011, 08:45 AM

ok so that track is by far one of the most interesting things i've heard in some time....not sure if its good and or i like it....but very interesting....looking into the album now

and major kudos for the write up on My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...great band and a great album to review

**Janszoon** · 12-05-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob.

ok so that track is by far one of the most interesting things i've heard in some time....not sure if its good and or i like it....but very interesting....looking into the album now

and major kudos for the write up on My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...great band and a great album to review

Hope you like the Clark album! And, yeah, Thrill Kill Kult are one of my all-time favorite bands, I'm always happy to encounter other people who dig them (it seems like there aren't many of us).

12-02-2011, 09:03 PM	#87 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	*10. Clark—Turning Dragon* (2008)** A lone astronaut pilots a tiny ship up through the atmosphere in one final massive technological leap forward for humankind. Her goal is simple research, one last vague hope that maybe, somehow, a cure for Earth's terminal prognosis might be discovered. She rises out of the violet haze of the outer atmosphere and into the brilliant glare of pure, unfiltered sunlight. On this side of the planet things seems peaceful, almost. With precise manipulations of the ship's controls she banks to one side and begins to make her way toward the dark side of the Earth. The trip takes a few hours but eventually the sun begins to retreat behind her home planet in the ship's rear cameras. Then abruptly, like the shoulder of some pale monster, the curvature of the moon becomes visible, blurred slightly by a haze of debris. As the moon grows larger, she begins to notice flashes above the Earth, chunks of lunar detritus burning up as they skip across the atmosphere. If there is one album that can capture the beauty and grandeur of such a scenario—as well as the icy brutality—surely it's Clark's Turning Dragon. His other albums, at least the few I've heard, are good—a sort of mellow, trip-hop inflected take on IDM—but this one is truly something special, with an unusual, brittle production style that I find particularly appealing. He comes out of the gate at full throttle with "New Year Storm", quite possibly the best track on the album, a hard-edged driving song of cosmic proportions—the kind of sound you could imagine reverberating throughout the cosmos, emanating back through time to no less than the birth cries of the universe itself. For several more tracks the album continues in this vein, with each one functioning almost like a movement in a symphony—severe, crushing and gorgeous. Things calm down a bit with "Ache of the North", a track which does in fact have a potent aching quality to it, the sound of massive ice crystals drifting slowly, lifelessly through a once thriving solar system. Appropriately, the penultimate track, "BEG", is probably the most challenging—or certainly the most noisy and dissonant. This song pulls off the amazing trick of sounding raw and destructive while also sounding vast and austere, though it does transition from the former to the later over the course of it's running time, which gives in a nice narrative feel. So our pilot continues on, placing herself between the Earth and Moon, transmitting data back home, frost shimmering on her windows. Below her, the occasional satellite is obliterated by a stray moon rock. Below her the flashes continue. She is entranced by them momentarily, finding them not so much frightening as oddly sublime. For the moment her mind goes blank, transfixed by what is happening below. When she does finally glance upward again, a plummeting gray boulder occupies her entire field of vision. For one seemingly infinite moment she observes every contour of its surface—every crack, every welt. Abruptly her ship explodes in a shower of ice and steel and blood. It shimmers in the sky for a millisecond then just as quickly it's gone. __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die last.fm

12-03-2011, 12:42 PM	#88 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	And the moral is: when you're piloting a spacecraft KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE VIEWSCREEN, WOMAN!!! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-04-2011, 08:45 AM	#89 (permalink)
bob. Still sends his reguards. Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Trying to get out of the cat town.... Posts: 5,039	ok so that track is by far one of the most interesting things i've heard in some time....not sure if its good and or i like it....but very interesting....looking into the album now and major kudos for the write up on My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...great band and a great album to review __________________ A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism. Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.