63-540: Electric Wizard are an English stoner / doom metal band from Dorset . Formed in 1988 under the name Lord of Putrefaction , the band have recorded nine studio albums, two of which have been considered genre landmarks: Come My Fanatics… (1997) and Dopethrone (2000). 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 . The origins of Electric Wizard go back to 1988 when Jus Oborn formed
126-543: A heavy metal band. Their next album, Let Us Prey , was released in 2002. It was Electric Wizard's most experimental record to date. Following the release, the band embarked on a North American tour that raised tensions between band members. It was announced that the band was breaking up after the last concert of the tour. However, Electric Wizard did a UK tour with Cathedral soon after, with Justin Greaves (of Iron Monkey ) on drums. In April 2003, Greening and Bagshaw left
189-487: A "touchstone" of stoner rock. Jim DeRogatis has said that stoner rock bands are "reaching back for inspiration to the psychedelic, proto-metallic jamming of bands like Cream , Black Sabbath , Deep Purple , and Hawkwind ." According to DeRogatis, the roots of stoner rock can be heard on Black Sabbath's Master of Reality , Hawkwind's 25 Years On 1973–1977 box set, the aforementioned Blue Cheer album, Deep Purple's Machine Head and Blue Öyster Cult 's Workshop of
252-538: A French aficionado of stoner rock, the website MoreFuzz.net has been a big promoter of the stoner rock scene in Europe and internationally. Stoner rock bands in Europe, much like their North American counterparts, mix elements of heavy rock music with psychedelia and acid rock . The influence of Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer can be heard – among other examples – in bands such as the Swedish Graveyard and
315-449: A US/Canada tour in 2015, their first US shows since 2012 and full tour of the US since 2002. Tickets to the tour were sold out within a month after going on sale. The band was set to release their latest album, Wizard Bloody Wizard in 2016, however this did not happen and in a September 2017 article Blabbermouth reported that the release date had been extended to 10 November 2017. The album
378-399: A bit like we're just doing it for the cash, which is never what it was about in the first place. Never say never, I guess, but it's very doubtful. We ended it for a reason." Cathedral's releases have been marked by sharp shifts in style. While Forest of Equilibrium was firmly entrenched in a slow, heavy doom sound, elements of 1970s metal and groovier riffs entered its sound beginning with
441-424: A crucifix off a church roof so we could use it onstage, then slipped, fell off through the window and sliced his arm open. He got community service for that. Then Mark [Greening] got nicked for robbing an offie . He smashed the window, nicked a bottle of whiskey, then sat there drinking it outside! We weren't very nice people, to be honest. We were feeding off that shit at the time. It made us feel like we were more of
504-528: A glorious celebration of rock & roll primitivism run through enough Marshall amps to deafen an army," not unlike the heaviness of MC5 's Kick Out the Jams and the Velvet Underground 's White Light/White Heat . Rolling Stone claims, "What stoner rock delivers, slowed down and magnified, is the riff , the persistent legacy of Mississippi blues. Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were
567-401: A relatively slow cadence for Endtyme in 2001. Cathedral signed with Spitfire Records and released The VIIth Coming . After releasing a single album on Spitfire, Cathedral signed to Nuclear Blast for their final three albums. These albums included the "inspired" and "quirky" but "uneven" The Garden of Unearthly Delights , the double-disc The Guessing Game , which was touted as
630-426: Is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock . The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep . Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a heavily distorted , groove -laden bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and "retro" production. Due to the similarities between stoner and sludge metal , there
693-586: Is a very long time and it's almost a miracle that we managed to come this far!" Cathedral played their last show in Perth, Western Australia during the Soundwave 2012 tour. Shortly before the release of The Last Spire , Dorrian told Noisecreep that there will never be a Cathedral reunion, and called that idea "absolutely stupid." Guitarist Gaz Jennings added that chances of a Cathedral reunion are "very, very slim", and that he "just can't see" it happening in
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#1732790782948756-454: Is also used interchangeably as a descriptor, and was coined by a MeteorCity Records intern, around the time the label released the 1998 stoner rock compilation Welcome to MeteorCity ; however, not all stoner rock bands would fall under the descriptor of "desert rock", since bands under this subgenre tend to include more hard rock characteristics. The involvement of cannabis in the creation of "stoner rock/metal" can range among bands in
819-504: Is now, a lot more morose and depressing, because that's how we felt at the time. We'd all come out of the death metal scene, or the grindcore scene or whatever, and I was just as much into the slower stuff as I was into the faster stuff. I just wanted to do something a bit different, so we took all our influences like Vitus and Pentagram and the Obsessed and stuff and decided to take that kind of music one step further, bring it into
882-426: Is often a crossover between the two genres. This hybrid has traits of both styles, but generally lacks stoner metal's laid back atmosphere and its usage of psychedelia . Bands such as Weedeater , High on Fire and Electric Wizard creatively fuse both styles. The descriptor "stoner rock" may originate from the title of the 1997 Roadrunner Records compilation Burn One Up! Music for Stoners . Desert rock
945-470: The HMV Forum , debuting its newest members, bassist Glenn Charman and drummer Simon Poole. A 7-inch EP titled Legalise Drugs and Murder was available for sale at the show. After the gig it was announced that it would be released worldwide and that more EPs would follow. On 1 October 2012, some copies of Terrorizer came with a cassette EP of Legalise Drugs and Murder which contained the two songs from
1008-527: The Palm Desert Scene with Blues for the Red Sun . Critics have hailed it as "a major milestone in heavy music," while NME described their music as an attempt to figuratively melt "a hundredweight of hot desert sand into metal". In 1992, San Jose doom metal band Sleep released their album Sleep's Holy Mountain , and along with Kyuss were heralded by the heavy metal press as leaders of
1071-689: The Palm Desert scene . Also in 1997, Roadrunner Records released the stoner rock compilation Burn One Up! Music for Stoners , which includes many of the aforementioned bands, as well as a track by Josh Homme's new band Queens of the Stone Age . In September 1997 Jadd Shickler (of stoner band Spiritu) and Aaron Emmel founded an online store based in Albuquerque, New Mexico called All That's Heavy , which began selling hard-to-find releases of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, and Fu Manchu. They soon expanded
1134-483: The Soul Sacrifice EP. By the time that The Ethereal Mirror was released, the band had incorporated references to 1970s music, such as the disco influences heard on "Midnight Mountain". As Dorrian explains, the band's original sound was a product of the immediate musical environment combined with the band members' influences: When we first started, the music of Cathedral was a lot more extreme than it
1197-531: The "most psychedelic, progressive material in the band's entire catalog" and the "true doom" of the band's farewell album, The Last Spire . While Cathedral had contemplated disbanding in the past, most recently after the release of The Garden of Unearthly Delights in 2006, on 6 February 2011, Cathedral announced that they would disband after the release of The Last Spire in April 2013. Dorrian explained that "It's simply time for us to bow out. Twenty one years
1260-633: The 2005 Roadburn Festival. Greaves left the band in 2006 and was replaced by Shaun Rutter. The parting was not amicable, with Oborn remarking that "We fell out big time with that loser. You know, I would piss on his grave." In November 2007, the band released Witchcult Today . In 2008, bassist Rob Al-Issa left the band and was replaced by Tas Danazoglou. Three years later, in November 2010, Electric Wizard released their seventh album: Black Masses . On 31 March 2012, Electric Wizard played in London at
1323-473: The 60-minute song is about cannabis, which resulted in conflict with Sleep's record company. Some members of the genre state that "stoner rock is a style, not life," which is interpreted as the band members do not participate in smoking cannabis or are influenced by cannabis. However, the style of their music reflects the sound of "stoner rock/metal." Bands such as King Caravan and Sea of Green have come under terms with this statement. Similarly, Matt Pike from
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#17327907829481386-609: The 7-inch along with two outtakes and two new songs. Electric Wizard also headlined the 2012 edition of Maryland Deathfest on 27 May, their first show in the United States in ten years. They headlined the 2013 edition of the Roadburn Festival called the 'Electric Acid Orgy,' which was also curated by Oborn. Electric Wizard announced that their latest album, Time to Die , was to be released in 2014 on their own label Witchfinder Records via Spinefarm Records . It
1449-524: The 90's, make it more extreme, more heavy and downtuned than any of those bands had done before. That was our first and foremost ambition, and I think we probably achieved that when we did our first album. Beginning with the Soul Sacrifice EP, the band began to incorporate a diverse array of 1970s influences into its sound. With 2001's Endtyme , Cathedral re-introduced the slower, doomy elements that had not been as prevalent on its previous four albums. The Guessing Game represented another development in
1512-478: The Bros , and at times by Queens of the Stone Age, who have since largely departed from Kyuss' stoner rock sound, and reject the label, preferring the term "desert rock". As acknowledged by Dave Wyndorf , the lead singer of Monster Magnet , in a 2015 interview: "Europe is really good for psychedelic music." So much so that some US stoner rock bands will even choose to tour Europe rather than North America. Founded by
1575-662: The German Kadavar . Instrumental stoner rock bands such as Karma to Burn are rare in the US but are more frequent in Europe. Cathedral (band) Cathedral were a doom metal band from Coventry , England. The group gained attention upon release of its debut album, Forest of Equilibrium (1991), which is considered a classic of the genre. However, the band's sound evolved quickly and began to adopt characteristics of 1970s metal, hard rock and progressive rock . After releasing ten full-length albums and touring extensively for over two decades, Cathedral broke up after
1638-529: The Stone Age released their breakthrough album Rated R , which helped bring the stoner rock sound into the mainstream, despite the band themselves rejecting both the genre and being labeled as such. Songs for the Deaf , their next release in 2002, included a single from the album peaking at No. 1 on the US Modern Rock Tracks . Another label focusing on the international stoner rock scene
1701-582: The Telescopes . The 1970s Calfornia-based supergroup Captain Beyond have also been described as "pioneers" of stoner rock. Black Sabbath's Master of Reality is often cited as the first album of the genre, and Martin Popoff states: "When ' Sweet Leaf ' kicks in, one witnesses simultaneously the invention of stoner rock". Allmusic summarizes this unique fusion as follows: "Stoner metal bands updated
1764-518: The audience. It might confuse a lot of people, I understand that, but that’s not a deliberate intention at all. We just want to make good music to the best of our abilities. We’re not the most musical band in the world, I admit that. We just want to push ourselves and stretch ourselves and contain an element of freedom of expression in our sound. I guess that’s why we look back on a lot of older bands, because they were so unrestricted, and things are too restricted and categorized these days. If you think about
1827-446: The band High on Fire stated, "It's a very strong scene, but I don't think any of the stoner rock bands want to be labeled as stoner rock ... I might use the word 'stoner' in my lyrics, but I think we're metal , dude. I'd say I was crossover metal, actually, or progressive metal . It's kind of a tough thing to lump into a category, but I guess we get the stoner-rock label because of the whole pot thing." Like most subgenres of music,
1890-521: The band Lord of Putrefaction. They put out three demo tapes from 1989 to 1991 and also recorded a split album with Mortal Remains. In 1992, the name was changed to Thy Grief Eternal after Adam Richardson left the band. They put out one demo under this name titled On Blackened Wings . In 1993, James Evans left the band and they once again changed their name, shortening it to Eternal. The band released two demos under this name. After Gavin Gillingham left
1953-575: The band recorded and released Come My Fanatics… , which introduced the stoner and sludge elements that have come to define Electric Wizard's sound. Later that year, Man's Ruin Records released the Chrono.Naut EP. Following the release of Come My Fanatics... Electric Wizard released the Supercoven EP on Bad Acid Records in 1998 and then recorded and released Dopethrone in 2000, which
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2016-519: The band's sound, with Cathedral's progressive and psychedelic influences coming to the forefront. For Dorrian, the album's direction was a result of the fact that: This time on the record it seemed like we've come to the point where we feel confident enough to bring these influences to the fore. Because we also feel that we've got nothing to lose as well, after all this time. We've got nothing to prove as much as we've got nothing to lose. I just think we went for it, we didn't really think too hard about what
2079-479: The band, Oborn started Electric Wizard. The recordings from this era were issued on the Pre-Electric Wizard 1989–1994 compilation in 2006. The band adopted the name Electric Wizard during 1993, composed of guitarist-vocalist Jus Oborn , bassist Tim Bagshaw, and drummer Mark Greening. The band's name was taken from two Black Sabbath songs: "Electric Funeral" and " The Wizard ". Oborn remarked, "Is
2142-422: The band. In August 2003, Oborn revealed Electric Wizard's new line-up – drummer Greaves, second-guitarist Liz Buckingham (of 13 and Sourvein ), and bassist Rob Al-Issa. This new lineup recorded We Live in 2004, just days after Buckingham began rehearsing with the band. As Oborn explained, the addition of Buckingham was crucial given the departure of his previous writing partner, Bagshaw: (The addition of) Liz
2205-578: The catalog to include artists who stylistically fit with those bands. After half a year they were contacted by the former proprietor for the first Kyuss fan website, who recommended All That's Heavy do a compilation of unsigned bands that Kyuss fans would enjoy. This resulted in the formation of MeteorCity Records and the release of the compilation Welcome to MeteorCity in 1998, which included established desert and stoner rock acts, as well as new bands established by John Garcia of Kyuss, Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet, and Pete Stahl of Goatsnake. The album
2268-462: The consequences would be, but I don’t think we went stupidly too far into the realms of progressive rock myself, it's just the right balance between that and everything else that the band's about. Remarking on Cathedral's penchant for evolving its sound, Dorrian said: I just think it’s important for a band like us, if we have all these influences and aspects of things we like, to be a bit more adventurous and make it interesting for ourselves as much as
2331-457: The critically acclaimed 1993 album The Ethereal Mirror . During this same period, heavy metal band White Zombie achieved multi-platinum success with their two major label albums, significantly expanding the heavy music audience with their groove-based, sample-laden "psychedelic horror" sound. During the early to mid-1990s, a number of southern-California bands developed the style that would be called stoner rock. In 1992, Kyuss emerged from
2394-481: The emerging stoner scene. These two bands were among the first to introduce a psychedelic groove to their doom -influenced sound. A year earlier, New Jersey 's Monster Magnet released their debut album Spine of God , which displayed fewer metal influences but was psychedelic and sludgy, in the vein of their California peers. Together with these three bands, southern-Californians Fu Manchu , who released their eponymous album in 1994, are credited with being "one of
2457-432: The first to make a monolith of it." Sir Lord Baltimore were called "the godfathers of stoner rock" by Classic Rock magazine, who went on to state that Leaf Hound have been cited for influencing countless bands in the stoner rock movement, including Kyuss and Monster Magnet . James Manning of Time Out London recognises The Beatles ' I Want You (She's So Heavy) as "laying the foundations for stoner rock with
2520-482: The future. He also stated that Dorrian has "moved on" and does not want to be involved in a reunion. Three out of four of the final members of Cathedral reformed the band Septic Tank after Cathedral's break up. When asked in July 2020 by Decibel magazine about the possibility of a Cathedral reunion, Dorrian said: "To just reform and cash in on the lucrative offers we've been getting ever since we broke up would feel
2583-430: The genre. Bands such as Sleep have involved the concept of cannabis to be part of the core of their albums and songs. The consumption of cannabis is common in the live performances of some stoner rock/metal bands, and bands such as Electric Wizard are known to have concerts with the band members and the crowd participating in smoking cannabis. Dopesmoker (previously Jerusalem ) by Sleep received controversy because
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2646-406: The long, mind-bending jams and ultra-heavy riffs of bands like Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Blue Öyster Cult, and Hawkwind by filtering their psychedelia-tinged metal and acid rock through the buzzing sound of early Sub Pop –style grunge ." However, Kyuss members Josh Homme and John Garcia have shrugged off the heavy metal influence, and instead cite punk rock and hardcore punk , particularly
2709-730: The magazines Decibel and Terrorizer released issues featuring a list of the 100 greatest and most important albums of the 2000s, respectively. The stoner band Electric Wizard's Dopethrone was featured on both lists, being placed 10th on Decibel's list and 1st on the Terrorizer's one. Since Kyuss' break-up, the success of the bandmates' other projects has caused the Kyuss back catalog to become more widely listened to and their fanbase has inevitably swelled. The sound has been continued on by directly descendant bands Unida, Slo Burn , Hermano , Mondo Generator , Fu Manchu , Brant Bjork and
2772-439: The members of Electric Wizard encountered a series of setbacks, with Oborn suffering a collapsed eardrum during a concert and later severing a fingertip while laying a carpet. Greening broke his collarbone in an accident. Speaking to Kerrang! in July 2009, Jus Oborn remembered the days of the recording: At the time, we were pretty bad people. I got arrested for arson of a car, outside a police station. Tim [Bagshaw] went to nick
2835-441: The most enduring and influential bands" of the genre. In 1994, San Francisco's Acid King and Britain's Acrimony released their debut albums, both of which adopted this psychedelic approach to doom metal. Though more closely associated with the grunge movement (which itself sometimes influenced, was influenced by, and occasionally overlapped with stoner rock), Soundgarden has also been cited as "stoner metal" or influential on
2898-415: The name Electric Wizard made out of two Black Sabbath song titles? Hahahaha, yeah it is!" In 1995, the band signed to Rise Above Records and released their self-titled debut album . The music was in the vein of traditional doom metal, and received positive reviews. Later that year, they released the song " Demon Lung " as a split-single with Our Haunted Kingdom (later to become Orange Goblin ). In 1997,
2961-469: The next minute they were trying to present us as the next Black Crowes . Can you imagine recording Forest of Equilibrium and a major label wanted to sign you on the strength of that? It was fairly bizarre. I guess heavy music was reaching some kind of pinnacle back then. Death metal had reached its pinnacle back then – at least its creative pinnacle so maybe they saw us as being the next step after that. Cathedral's major label debut, The Ethereal Mirror ,
3024-465: The now-famous Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California . This musical collective brings artists together for impromptu writing and recording sessions that yielded ten albums between 1997 and 2003. The project has included members from Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, Goatsnake , earthlings? and Eagles of Death Metal , as well as PJ Harvey , Dean Ween and others associated with
3087-454: The origins of stoner rock are hard to trace and pinpoint. Nevertheless, several known progenitors and signature songs are widely credited with helping to shape the genre. Blue Cheer is considered one of the pioneers of the style; as AllMusic author Greg Prato puts it, "When talks about 'stoner rock' come up, one band that tends to get overlooked is Blue Cheer." According to critic Mark Deming, Blue Cheer's first album, Vincebus Eruptum , "is
3150-432: The release of The Last Spire in 2013. In 1989, Lee Dorrian left Napalm Death because he was reportedly tiring of the punk scene and did not like the death metal direction which Napalm Death was taking. Cathedral was formed after Lee Dorrian and Mark Griffiths (a Carcass roadie) met and discussed their love for bands like Black Sabbath , Candlemass , Pentagram , Trouble , and Witchfinder General . The band
3213-449: The relentlessly spiralling outro". Buffalo 's 1973 sophomore release Volcanic Rock has been "heralded as the first great stoner rock record," the song Sunrise (Come My Way) "has since been shamelessly cannibalized for its parts by more stoner-rock bands than you can shake a bong at," and the songs Till My Death and The Prophet have been likened to later stoner rock. Primevil 's album Smokin' Bats at Campton's has been called
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#17327907829483276-456: The sludgy hardcore of Black Flag 's album My War as influences. The doom metal band Trouble introduced acid rock elements on their 1990 self-titled album , which became even more prominent on 1992's Manic Frustration . Similarly, the British doom metal band Cathedral increasingly moved toward a psychedelic/stoner sound over the course of their first three releases, culminating in
3339-444: The stoner rock genre, with their 1994 album Superunknown being described as a "stoner rock classic". Other influential bands from this era include Clutch , Sons of Otis and Corrosion of Conformity . Kyuss broke up in 1995 after the release of their fourth album , with many members going on to develop the stoner and desert rock scene through new projects. In August 1997, Kyuss' Josh Homme founded The Desert Sessions at
3402-567: The time. After the release of the Soul Sacrifice EP , Cathedral signed with Columbia Records . That enabled the successful two-month Campaign for Musical Destruction Tour in the United States. Cathedral's experience on Columbia was described by Dorrian as "surreal". As Dorrian explained, We weren’t deliberately trying to be pop stars or anything like that, so playing that game just felt very surreal. We weren't exactly comfortable with it. We were an underground band one minute and
3465-505: The world was waiting for someone to do what we were doing." MeteorCity soon signed a number of musicians and bands from the Palm Desert Scene, including Hermano , Unida and emerging Swedish stoner rock bands such as Lowrider, Dozer and The Mushroom River Band . During this time, The Hidden Hand and Spirit Caravan also began to gain popularity within the developing scene. In June 2000, Josh Homme's new project Queens of
3528-585: Was Small Stone Records , which released a number of compilation albums of stoner rock bands doing covers of 1970s music, including Right in the Nuts: A Tribute to Aerosmith (2000), Sucking the 70's (2002), and Sucking the 70's – Back in the Saddle Again (2006). In 2002, the Orquesta del Desierto was formed featuring key members of the major desert rock bands, and released two albums. In 2009,
3591-431: Was described by Allmusic as a "dirge masterpiece" and is regarded as the band's magnum opus . Kerrang! has noted that despite the "groovy" stoner rock vibes usually associated with the band, lyrics for songs like We Hate You were more like "an indiscriminate spray of bile against everyone" than the typical stoner rock themes of "shagging and cars". During the three years following the release of Come My Fanatics... ,
3654-548: Was eventually released on 17 November 2017 Clayton Burgess left Electric Wizard in early 2018 to focus on his band Satan's Satyrs . A single titled " L.S.D. (Lucifers Satanic Daughter)" was released in 2021, specifically for the film Lucifers Satanic Daughter . A band biography titled Come My Fanatics: A Journey Into The World Of Electric Wizard written by Dan Franklin was released on 22 June 2023. Current Former Studio albums Stoner metal Stoner rock , also known as stoner metal or stoner doom ,
3717-415: Was founded in 1989 by Dorrian, Griffiths and Garry Jennings (formerly of thrash metal band Acid Reign ). Dorrian was the only founding member to remain with Cathedral for its duration, although Jennings' departure ultimately proved to be temporary. Cathedral released The Forest of Equilibrium through Earache . According to Dorrian, only Winter or Autopsy were doing something similar, sound-wise, at
3780-466: Was noted by Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic for its experimentation, upbeat tempos, and groove-laden guitar riffs. After releasing The Ethereal Mirror in 1993, Cathedral was dropped by Columbia the following year. The band resumed its relationship with Earache Records, which lasted until 2001. During this time, Cathedral released four full-length albums that continued to explore faster rhythms and 1970s-hard rock-influenced guitar riffs before returning to
3843-526: Was recorded at Toerag Studios and Skyhammer Studios and mixed by Chris Fielding. The album was produced by guitarist Jus Oborn and released on 29 September 2014. The album is the first since 2002's Let Us Prey to feature founding member Mark Greening on drums. On 30 October 2014, Electric Wizard played their largest club show in the North of England at the 1500 capacity Ritz, Manchester, England. On 16 December 2014, Electric Wizard announced they would embark on
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#17327907829483906-556: Was the first time that the new stoner rock bands Sixty Watt Shaman , Lowrider , The Atomic Bitchwax , Dozer , Goatsnake, and Los Natas were featured on record. According to MeteorCity founders: "When this was happening, there wasn't really a [stoner rock] scene yet, there were just a lot of people around the world who were still sad about the end of Kyuss, as well as the end of Slo Burn , and who listened to stuff like Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu but wanted more. The label took off when we appeared with Welcome to Meteor City , as though
3969-420: Was the most important element...because Tim had left the band and we were writing partners so to speak. So when Liz came aboard we were writing partners again. Our styles were very similar. We have the same sort of down-stroke pattern. And since we were writing together, Electric Wizard was happening again. I have to have a writing partner. The band toured England and Australia in support of the album and played at
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