Come My Fanatics…: Difference between revisions
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'''''Come My Fanatics…''''' is the second studio album by English band [[Electric Wizard]]. The album was released in January 1997 on [[Rise Above Records]] and was produced by Rolf Startin, Mike Hurst and band member [[Jus Oborn]]. It was the group's follow-up to their eponymous album ''[[Electric Wizard (album)|Electric Wizard]]''. Oborn described the release as a reaction to the sound on the earlier album, which he had felt was not as heavy as he wanted the group to sound. The sound on ''Come My Fanatics…'' was described by [[Lee |
'''''Come My Fanatics…''''' is the second studio album by English band [[Electric Wizard]]. The album was released in January 1997 on [[Rise Above Records]] and was produced by Rolf Startin, Mike Hurst and band member [[Jus Oborn]]. It was the group's follow-up to their eponymous album ''[[Electric Wizard (album)|Electric Wizard]]''. Oborn described the release as a reaction to the sound on the earlier album, which he had felt was not as heavy as he wanted the group to sound. The sound on ''Come My Fanatics…'' was described by [[Lee Dorrian]] as breaking the traditional [[doom metal]] sound with an unpolished approach. |
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The thematic elements of the album draw from 1970s horror films, [[Outlaw biker film|biker movies]] and the writings of [[HP Lovecraft]]; there are three songs about leaving Earth to avoid an impending an environmental disaster. The album release was followed by a tour with the band [[Cathedral (band)|Cathedral]] and positive reviews from heavy metal magazines ''[[Metal Hammer]]'', ''[[Terrorizer (magazine)|Terrorizer]]'' and ''[[Kerrang!]]''. ''Come My Fanatics…'' continued to receive praise in retrospective reviews, with ''Terrorizer'' declaring it "the wake-up that the UK doom scene needed" and Cathedral frontman and Rise Above Records owner [[Lee Dorrian]] describing it as "the turning point of everything".<ref name="terrorizer-21" /> |
The thematic elements of the album draw from 1970s horror films, [[Outlaw biker film|biker movies]] and the writings of [[HP Lovecraft]]; there are three songs about leaving Earth to avoid an impending an environmental disaster. The album release was followed by a tour with the band [[Cathedral (band)|Cathedral]] and positive reviews from heavy metal magazines ''[[Metal Hammer]]'', ''[[Terrorizer (magazine)|Terrorizer]]'' and ''[[Kerrang!]]''. ''Come My Fanatics…'' continued to receive praise in retrospective reviews, with ''Terrorizer'' declaring it "the wake-up that the UK doom scene needed" and Cathedral frontman and Rise Above Records owner [[Lee Dorrian]] describing it as "the turning point of everything".<ref name="terrorizer-21" /> |
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Revision as of 02:59, 31 January 2018
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Come My Fanatics… is the second studio album by English band Electric Wizard. The album was released in January 1997 on Rise Above Records and was produced by Rolf Startin, Mike Hurst and band member Jus Oborn. It was the group's follow-up to their eponymous album Electric Wizard. Oborn described the release as a reaction to the sound on the earlier album, which he had felt was not as heavy as he wanted the group to sound. The sound on Come My Fanatics… was described by Lee Dorrian as breaking the traditional doom metal sound with an unpolished approach.
The thematic elements of the album draw from 1970s horror films, biker movies and the writings of HP Lovecraft; there are three songs about leaving Earth to avoid an impending an environmental disaster. The album release was followed by a tour with the band Cathedral and positive reviews from heavy metal magazines Metal Hammer, Terrorizer and Kerrang!. Come My Fanatics… continued to receive praise in retrospective reviews, with Terrorizer declaring it "the wake-up that the UK doom scene needed" and Cathedral frontman and Rise Above Records owner Lee Dorrian describing it as "the turning point of everything".[1]
Production
Background
Prior to recording with Electric Wizard, lead singer Jus Oborn was mostly interested in the death metal genre. After listening to Black Sabbath under the influence of mushrooms, he was inspired to take his music in a different direction. At the time, Oborn was a member of a group called Eternal, who were drifting apart; Oborn said, "I had a vision of doing the doom stuff. The rest of the guys were just into Alice in Chains."[2]
After forming, Electric Wizard recorded their self-titled debut album, which was released in 1996. Oborn was not happy with the recording, finding it lighter-sounding than they had wanted. He said, "We went to a big fancy studio and we were like, 'Oh no, we've gotta do as we're told". This led to the sound of their follow-up album, Come My Fanatics...; Oborn said, "it had to sound right this time".[2] About the recording period, Oborn said, "Our country wasn't in a great state. And metal was totally fucked at that point. We were really making a musical statement. When you're younger everything is a reaction against the world."[3]
Recording
Oborn found producer Rolf Startin, who shared the band's desire for rawness and feeling, listed in the Yellow Pages. Startin was prepared to build the studio around the band, supplying the band with vintage amplifiers.[3] Come My Fanatics... was recorded at Red Dog Studios in July 1996.[4] Oborn later described the album's production as "very technically inept", and said it was "very difficult to deliberately do things badly. It just happened. It was exactly the sound we were trying to create."[3]
Some songs on the album contain samples from films such as "Return Trip", which contains a sample of the film Cannibal Ferox. The horror film samples came from video nasties passed under the table at the market stall in Wimborne in Dorset, where the members of the group lived. The song "Invixor B/Phase Inducer" is an instrumental track, with an introduction that came about by accident when the band experimented with a drum & bass sampler in the studio. Oborn said the group were "quite impressed, even though we didn’t like the music". He mentioned specific albums, such as Six Million Ways to Die" seemed quite brutal in the use of samples and that was something we thought we could bring to our music".[3]
Music and themes
Rise Above Records owner Lee Dorian stated that the group's sound on the record "somehow managed to break the mould of traditional doom metal", noting that previous doom metal groups are "very morose and slow and heavy which can be very off-putting" while Electric Wizard had a guitar sound that had a "completely unpolished approach to the way they present themselves". Dan Franklin, writing for The Quietus, stated the group's style of music was "completely contrary to the surprisingly spiritual tendencies of Trouble and others", noting its "thick, chaotic and crushing sound".[5] Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic echoed these statements, noting that the album "somehow upped the sonic ante through a wall of sludge so thick that even the most experienced of metal heads couldn't help but be overwhelmed by its power".[6] Dorian also found the album difficult on a first listen, stating:
When I first listened to it I was like 'Fucking hell I can't hear the drums' but realized that it was a good thing that they were completely buried. I just got completely stoned and listened to it on my bed and thought it was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard.[5]
The music on the album draws influences from 1970s horror films, biker movies and the works of HP Lovecraft. Oborn had read Lovecraft since his early teenage years and admired his work, particularly the idea "that art should be otherworldly and have this sense of fear and something beyond our understanding. I took that as more of an influence than literally talking about tentacle-headed monsters, which only crosses the surface level."[5] Oborn also said Come My Fanatics... was conceived as a "piece of escapism", developed from an "insular, underground feeling that we were heading to our doom as a planet and no-one overground had a fucking clue about it". He stated that final three songs on the album, "Ivixor B / Phase Inducer", "Son of Nothing" and "Solarian 13", were a concept about leaving Earth because it was "so fucked up".[3] He said the ethic was that the planet was heading towards an environmental disaster and:
... the powers that be aren’t doing anything about it and don’t care about the poorer people. So that was behind it all. It might seem more widely recognised now, but that's more to do with the internet and people's education about the way the world is. Back then you were considered quite a paranoid, underground freak if you thought the world was controlled by the powers that be and no-one really cared about us.[3]
Release
Come My Fanatics... was released in January 1997 by Rise Above Records.[7] The album did not reach chart in the United Kingdom.[8] The label's founder Lee Dorian had previously tried to promote doom metal music in the United Kingdom through compilation albums such as Dark Passages, featuring bands including Penance, Revelation and Mourn, to define a British scene. Dorian later said the release of Come My Fanatics... was "the turning point of everything". Terrorizer echoed these statements in 2012, calling the album "the wake-up that the UK doom scene needed and proved it wasn't just about frilly shirts and gothic morbidity".[1]
Come My Fanatics... received several re-releases in 1999; Rise Above re-released it on April 19, 1999, with new artwork.[7] The new cover depicts Anton LaVey and his disciples and is based on still from a 1971 television documentary called The Power Of The Witch.[3] To create the cover, Oborn paused his videotaped copy of the documentary and traced the image from his television screen; he added the space background later.[3] The Music Cartel distributed the album in the United States in 1999.[9] Come My Fanatics... was released in Japan with the bonus track "Return to the Sun of Nothingness". Both Electric Wizard and Come My Fanatics... were re-packaged as a single release in 1999.[4] In Finland, the album charted in 2011, charting higher than other metal groups such as Within Temptation and American acts such as Jennifer Lopez, Adele and Lady Gaga.[10]
Touring and follow-up
After the initial 1998 release of the album, Electric Wizard toured the United Kingdom with Cathedral in February 1997, and in Europe with labelmates Mourn.[7] This was planned to be followed with a tour supporting The Blood Divine in early April with Orange Goblin, which Electric Wizard later dropped out of.[11]
Following the release of Come My Fanatics... the group released the EP Supercoven (1998). Their next studio album, Dopethrone, was not released until four years later. Oborn said of the hiatus, "I would safely say there was a period where we split up. We just didn't tell anybody."[2]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| Kerrang! | (5/5)[7] |
| Metal Hammer | (4/5)[7] |
| Terrorizer | (4/5)[7] |
On its release, Come My Fanatics... received positive reviews from heavy rock magazines Terrorizer, Kerrang! and Metal Hammer.[7] Metal Hammer called the album "a right corker",[7] while Terrorizer said, "this is out there in orbit with Hawkwind's 'Space Ritual', and that's a compliment in its own way. Wastoids they are, but the 'Wiz have made a great Stoner Doom record."[7] Kerrang! stated Electric Wizard "have delivered one of the most punishingly heavy albums in recent memory", concluding that "Classic is the only word for it".[7]
From retrospective articles and reviews, The Guardian said, "Oborn’s vision of creating the heaviest music imaginable was put firmly into practice for 1997’s still astonishing Come My Fanatics … , a record that was so devastatingly slow, heavy and obnoxious that it made everything else around it sound anaemic and pedestrian".[12] AllMusic called it "absolutely colossal" and "Essential doom", noting it was "somewhat less immediate than its predecessor ... even the most experienced of metal heads couldn't help but be overwhelmed by its power", and that tracks such as "Doom-Mantia" and "Son of Nothing" would "test the patience of uninitiated listeners before drifting into focus through billowing clouds of smoke, but the ultimate religious experience is well worth the lengthy conversion process".[6] Oborn later stated that Come My Fanatics... is his favourite of the group's earlier material. He said, "I can’t honestly remember doing it, so it is like listening to another band and I do like that album a lot. I remember doing Dopethrone and it was particularly hard work and a miserable experience so I don't look at it fondly."[3]
Track listing
All songs by Electric Wizard. Lyrics by Jus Oborn.[13]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Return Trip" | 10:15 |
| 2. | "Wizard in Black" | 8:15 |
| 3. | "Doom-Mantia" | 8:35 |
| 4. | "Ivixor B / Phase Inducer" | 8:40 |
| 5. | "Son of Nothing" | 6:50 |
| 6. | "Solarian 13" | 8:08 |
| Total length: | 49:43 | |
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes[13]
- Jus Oborn – lead guitar, vocals, effects, producer, mixing
- Tim Bagshaw – lead bass, effects
- Mark Greening – drums, concussion
- Rolf Startia – producer, mixing
- Mike Hurst – producer, mixing
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Kerswell-O'Hara, Ronnie (April 2012). "Lee Dorrian". Terrorizer's Secret History of...Doom Metal. p. 21.
- ^ a b c Kerswell-O'Hara, Ronnie (April 2012). "Past Lives - Electric Wizard". Terrorizer's Secret History of...Doom Metal. p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Franklin, Dan (31 January 2017). "21st Century Birth Pains: Electric Wizard's Come My Fanatics Revisited". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ a b Sharpe-Young 2007, p. 252.
- ^ a b c Franklin, Dan (27 December 2013). "Rise Above Records Turns 25: From Electric Wizard To Iron Man". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ a b c Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Come My Fanatics... - Electric Wizard". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Electric Wizard - "Come My Fanatics"". Rise Above Records. Archived from the original on 6 March 2001. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Electric Wizard". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Catalog". Archived from the original on 30 May 2000. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Suomen virallinen lista - Albumit 28/2011" (in Finnish). The Official Finnish Charts. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ "Rise Above News For 1997". Rise Above Records. Archived from the original on 18 April 2001. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Lawson, Dom (2 June 2015). "Electric Wizard: 'We had a fantasy we'd get busted for having satanic sex orgies'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
- ^ a b Come My Fanatics... [liner notes] (Media notes). Electric Wizard. Rise Above Records. RISE14CD.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
Sources
- Sharpe-Young, Garry (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide. Jawbone Press. ISBN 1906002010.
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