Let Us Prey

Artist: Electric Wizard
Label: Music Cartel
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 656953006028
EAN: 0656953006028
ASIN: B00006461S

Release Date: 2002-04-30

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best of Doom-stoner rock
Essential Stoner rock/metal albums
The Best Records Of 2002 That Are Available On Amazon
metal 2002
best metal of 2002, so far
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Tracks:

Chosen Few
We, The Undead
Master Of Alchemy: House Of Whipcord/The Black Drug
The Outsider
Night Of The Shape
Priestess Of Mars

Similar Items:

We Live
Come My Fanatics...
Supercoven
Dopethrone
The Ethereal Mirror

Customer Reviews:

Last gasp of the original Wizard - fraught, bite-sized doom metal.......2007-01-31

This one's a bit debated amongst fans (following `Dopethrone' was never going to be easy), and for what it's worth here's my contribution: `Let Us Prey' is brilliant.

Terrorizer magazine gave it a rare 10/10 upon release, and while I wouldn't go that far I know what they heard that many others didn't. This is a kind of bite-size Wizard, with an album structure that makes the digestion of the tracks easier. It's possible to listen to this in one brief, exhilarating session without suffering the feedback-induced exhaustion of `Dopethrone'. Most fans would say that's the whole point of listening to the Wizard in the first place, but it doesn't have to be, even though aural abuse is certainly fun. The fact is, `Let Us Prey' is every bit as heavy and savage as the rest of their catalogue. The production work is especially notable, as Jus' guitar and Tim's bass lock in together to devastating effect - check out the monstrous first riff of `Master Of Alchemy' for ample proof. In fact, almost all of these riffs are monstrous. Jus does his usual ultra-distorted stoner drawl over these pounding repetitions, augmented with gutter-level psychedelic phase and flange sweeps in the background. The album in general sounds more like a jamming Wizard, although the songs are framed within the ten-minute mark to ensure the riffs don't stew themselves and become ponderous. The surprises come in the form of the shorter tracks - `We The Undead' has a punky edge that makes the band sound like it's frantically sweating along to catch up with their own tempo.

After the benchmark `Come My Fanatics...', `Let Us Prey' is their most atmospheric work, and is obviously the product of an excitingly unstable vibe. The band had just returned from a US tour that left them broke and unemployed, and they quickly recorded again, leaving us this weird, fraught album that nonetheless hits all the bases and provides us with a snapshot of the band blindly trying to re-establish their mission statement. And succeeding, naturally.

This is still essential Wizard, even by the standards of those who write this off as a `Dopethrone' addendum. It's not - it's the unnerving last gasp of the classic line-up shortly before its implosion. And then came Mark II, a very different animal that leads me to another review entirely...

Pointless.......2006-02-17

Just saw 'em the other night (2006).
Ok, stoner and doom is not exactly my genre. But:
They are not talented, noisy, murky, boring.
The riffing is cheap.
Incredible how people just make a cult out of this unoriginal noise group.
Telling you that because I loved Grand Magus and Cathedral on that gig, but this "cult" band Electric Wizard just made me sit down and wait for this wall of noise played by these non-musicians to end before I fell asleep.
Everyone can "play" this music with a fuzz pedal having purchased a guitar for the first time. It will take you 2-3 weeks of practicing. Try it for yourself, maybe you'll end up having a mysterious cult band.
Ok, I play jazz and progrock and metal, that's why I'm a bit upset at those doom-stoner bands who can't really play well.
Gives music a bad name.

A near perfect masterpiece (3.5 stars).......2005-05-24

As slowriotfornewzerokanada said, something had to follow Dopethrone. It defiently wouldn't and couldn't be as great as Dopethrone, but something had to follow it.

A year later, and I am still kinda iffy on this album. It's got some great slow doom such as A Chosen Few, Priestess Of Mars and The Outsider. But, what really brings it down is the addition of filler such as We The Undead, which sounds too much like Eyehategod. Night Of The Shape could've been a mouch better song with different production. Also, the album is WAY too short. Dopethrone was a monster, 70 minutes in length, and it didn't mellow out at all. This album is a total of 44 minutes, way too short.

However, if you are a casual fan, it would be wise to pick this one up. It's got 4 great songs, and 2 iffy ones.

starting to make sense now. months and months later..........2004-09-16

i've said some bad things about this album. i think i even called it a piece of junk in my dopethrone review. well, many months and many revisits later, i just want to say a few brief words to finally give this album its due.

first, Let Us Prey had to follow Dopethrone. SOMETHING had to follow it, and no matter what it was, chances were it wasn't going to be as good as, or top, a definitive album like Dopethrone. and while Let Us Prey certianly isn't Dopethrone II, it shouldn't be disregarded either.

it's starting to make sense now, as i sit here and listen to the newest album We Live, which has a lot more in common with Let Us Prey than anything before it. it seems like after Dopethrone, EW had to move in a slightly different direction. they knew they couldn't follow up Dopethrone, so they made a change. and honestly, when you listen to what they band is doing circa 2004, lineup changes and all, Let Us Prey falls into place. it was a great way for the band to change it up after Dopethrone, and is a very solid album.

the main difference would have to be the feel. let me see if i can explain this... earlier wizard, up to Come My Fanatics was heavy, but its overall effect tended to be a heavy, spacey drone. Dopethrone mixed this with pure vitrol - "Legalise Drugs & Murder" was printed inside, and while there was a LOT of spacey, droney feel in the record, there was also a lot of horror and dirt. Let Us Prey removes some of the expansive, spacey elements from the bands sound, and distills the vitrol of dopethrone into a more focused, hazy dirge. kind of like waking up really hungover and having to go work physical labor for twelve hours straight. the music is aggravated. and it works. it's effective.

so that's my take on it nowadays. i listen to this album a lot more now than i did when it came out, and i like it a lot more too. and now that We Live is out, this record seems to be an accurate representation of the direction Electric Wizard is heading post-Dopethrone, so get used to it!

newcomers will always be told to get the classics, but once you've got those under your belt, Let Us Prey is another worthy addition to their catalog.

Under rated........2004-04-19

Ignore the reviews bashing this album.

Yes, its not typical Electric Wizard, nor is it typical doom. But you have to take into account what Electric Wizard revolves around... marijuana.

This album takes a much more psychedelic, groove, stoned out stance towards its production instead of pounding riff after riff. The vocals are muted and distorted, alot like the first track from DopeThrone.

Night of the Shape is an excellent track to get blazed to and trance out. The last track, along with Weird Tales, is one of my fave tracks by the band. The first is headbanging material, and We the Undead shows you want Electric Wizard would have been if they had kept on the same route as they were when they first started.

My only complaints is that some of the tracks feel a bit like filler, other than that, it is an excellent record that obviously shows it has had alot of work done to it.

I cant wait to see what Jus Osbourn has ready for their new release.

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