By Andrew Bansal
April 19th 2015, The Roxy, West Hollywood CA: UK doom metal veterans Electric Wizard released their tenth full-length studio album ‘Time To Die’ in 2014 via Spinefarm Records, and soon after, announced their first full US tour since 2002, with support act Satan’s Satyrs. Shows started selling out instantly, and the anticipation surrounding this tour was at its peak. Towards the end of this tour, the night before they would play a second show at the Observatory in Santa Ana, added late on due to extremely high demand, they performed in front of a packed Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood on Sunday April 19 2015. Excitement was in the air and bell bottoms were in fashion on stage.
Hailing from Herndon, Virginia, stoner rock trio Satan’s Satyrs hit the stage at 8 PM and laid down some delightful jams as the sounds emanating from each of their instruments combined to create a smooth blend of straightforward vintage heavy music. Their playing as well as the gear setup and tones come straight out of the old-school. These guys were in the zone, expressing themselves to the fullest in an uninhibited performance. Besides enhancing their own reputation, Satan’s Satyrs also served as a solid representation of the recent influx of real musical talent in Virginia. This was by all means the perfect opening act for Electric Wizard.
At 9:20, the curtains were raised, and following a long five-minute intro of thunderous noises played on the PA amidst complete darkness, the four members of Electric Wizard took their positions and standing in the foreground of a sequence of scenes projected onto the back of the stage, they brought the heavy and indulged in righteous riff worship. Fans were loving every moment of it, although mosh pits at a doom show of this nature absolutely did not make sense and proved that people participating in them were intoxicated on the wrong substance. But for those that were high, the combination of the music and the visuals that constituted the Electric Wizard live show was most definitely catered to them.
It was a performance that did not disappoint any of the band’s longtime fans. That being said, in all honesty, I couldn’t help but feel that the stoner doom thing has been represented and executed far better by several bands that have come before and after Electric Wizard over the years, and nothing in their music really stands out as memorable or distinct. Their name is undeniably one of the coolest, and they carry the sound and the look of an exemplary stoner rock band, but beyond that, based on this show one has to come to a conclusion that they are tremendously overhyped.
(Check out full video coverage of the show on Arturo Gallegos’ YouTube channel)