Let Us Prey was the second Electric Wizard album I heard. A few months after getting Dopethrone I found a second-hand copy of the cd for £6 in London and was pretty excited to hear some more of the band. Now, seven years later, I think it might be my least favourite Electric Wizard album. That isn't as bad as it sounds - it's still a great album, but when I want to listen to Electric Wizard, this isn't the album I ever think to go to.
The album starts with a huge riff, the sort you'd expect from the band, but then we're quickly introduced to thing I dislike most about the album - the muffled vocals. Jus's vocals are so low in the mix and (I assume) intentionally incoherent. There's a layer of fuzz and noise that seems to sit on the surface. The mix of doom and old blues-rock are lost beneath it and, too, are things I love most about Electric Wizard. We, the Undead takes those muffled vocals to the next level. It's an interesting thing to try, and under any other circumstances I might quite enjoy it. Of course I bought it simply because it was there, but in hindsight I wish it hadn't been my second Electric Wizard album.
The songs are still great in their ways: both songs on side 2 are great and the outro to Priestess of Mars is huge, but huge in spite of the fuzz, which is a shame; I'd love to hear that song on any other album. The double-LP includes the Japanese bonus track Master of Serpants on the D-side rather than squeezing the six songs across just one 12" like the original release did. It's a nice addition, but an instrumental song that you could understand why it wasn't on the album-proper.
A short while ago I noticed that Rise Above had re-re-issued the Electric Wizard back-catalogue on vinyl and had some nice colours in stock. Rather than wait and hopefully stumble across them in shops (something that rarely happens in the UK, but often in the US), I decided I'd just complete my collection in one go. It's very pleasing to have them all sat there together.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 7
Cost: £24 new
Bought: Rise Above Records
When: 14/09/16
Colour: Gold
Etching: none
mp3s: no
