As the self-proclaimed "heaviest band in the universe", Electric Wizard are the true kings of Stoner Metal. They are also very closely related to Doom Metal, and are usually referred to as a "Stoner Doom Metal" band. Yes, metal has many, many sub-genres...

This British band consists of three members: singer/guitarist Jus Osbourne, bassist Tim Bagshaw, and drummer Mark Greening. Oh yes, and each of them probably smoke more weed than Snoop Dog and Woody Harrelson combined.

Their debut self-titled album was released in 1994. It set the formula that Electric Wizard has followed ever since - distant tortured vocals, a wall of sound Phil Spector couldn't even imagine, and grueling Black Sabbath style riffs. This album was later re-released in a two-CD bundle with their second outing "Come My Fanatics...", which was originally released in 1996.

These first two albums hardly make mention of their love of marijuana, instead dealing out cryptic H.P. Lovecraft-esque subject matter in the first (except for the song "Wooden Pipe"), and the second being a concept album focusing on, what I believe to be, some sort of evil Space Cult. However, this changed with their 2000 release of "Dopethrone", which took the metal world by storm and catapulted them to the top of their genre. This album's cover featured a faux-woodcutting of a horned pagan god holding a bong. True to doom metal conventions, the title track is 20 minutes long.

Dopethrone was followed up in 2002 by the album "Let Us Pray". Although very good, it couldn't help but be a minor let down from the awesome doom monolith that was Dopethrone.

But really, any Electric Wizard album makes for the perfect soundtrack to your psychonautic adventure - as their lengthy songs usually take on a very psychedelic, experimental nature. However, if someone is tripping balls and isn't a fan of Doom, I wouldn't suggest putting Electric Wizard on - you might scare the bejeezes out of them.

The current Electric Wizard line up is:

Justin "Jus" Oborn - Guitar/Vocals
Justin Greaves - Drums
Liz Buckingham - Guitar
Rob Al-Issa - Bass

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Formerly called Lord of Putrefaction, Thy Grief Eternal and Eternal. Electric Wizard were founded in Birmingham, England by vocalist/guitarist Justin "Jus" Oborn (Oborn, not Osbourne, people have been making that mistake for so long that it probably doesn't even piss him off anymore), bassist Tim Bagshaw and drummer Mark Greening. Considered by many to be the quintessential doom metal band, their musical style is very similar to that of Black Sabbath, but with more drugs, more distortion and more of a hatred for everything that is good and decent

Brought together by mutual boredom, misanthrope and more than a passing interest in marijuana, Oborn, Bagshaw and Greening set about creating some of the heaviest, most hopeless, hate filled music imaginable. Starting out as Lord of Putrefaction, they released a number of demos and splits before changing their name to Electric Wizard and releasing their first full length album, Electric Wizard on Rise Above records in 1995.

Their next full length effort, entitled Come My Fanatics was released in January of 1997, again on Rise Above records. The band recorded this entire album with vintage, analogue recording equipment. They also upped the distortion big time and got even heavier than before, expanding upon and experimenting beyond their Black Sabbath roots.

In 1999, bowing to public demand, Rise Above reissued Come My Fanatics, together with new cover art (courtesy of Jus Oborn) and a second CD containing a remixed version of their self-titled debut (the remix was Jus' idea, as he had never been happy with the original mix) .

Then, in October of 2000, Electric Wizard unleashed upon the unsuspecting doom metal underground an album that nobody was prepared for. An album that made everything that had gone before pale in comparison. Sabbath's Master of Reality? Candlemass' Epicus Doomicus Metallicus? Even these time-honoured, landmark albums had nothing on this beast. I speak, of course, of the legendary, monolithic, Dopethrone. With Dopethrone, Electric Wizard showed everyone who was boss. They proved that they were heavier, slower, angrier and better than everyone else. To be frank, this album is untouchable.

In 2002, Dopethrone's somewhat disappointing follow up, Let Us Prey was released. While the album has it's moments, the quality of the record as a whole is significantly less than that of their earlier albums. To make matters worse, Mark Greening departed soon after the album's release, shortly followed by Tim Bagshaw. The pair have gone on to form the band Ramesses with Adam Richardson of Spirmyard.

Rather than end things on a low note, Jus recruited Justin Greaves (of Iron Monkey fame) on drums, Rob Al-Issa on bass and Liz Buckingham (of Sourvein) as a second guitarist. This new line up was announced by Rise Above on August 5th, 2003.

In June of 2004, the fruits of this new line up's labour were released. A 6-track, 55 minute masterpiece, aptly titled We Live. While We Live does not have the same sonic brutality of Dopethrone (let's face it, nothing does), it is a fine album and is right up there with the Wizard's best.

Nobody seems to be quite sure where Electric Wizard are or what they are doing right now, but it's probably safe to assume that they're smoking dope somewhere. Never fear though, we have been promised a tour in support of We Live at some stage.

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Electric Wizard's discography is as follows:

• Electric Wizard
  (Full-length, 1995)
  
• Electric Wizard/Our Haunted Kingdom
  (Split with Our Haunted Kingdom, 1996)
  
• Chrono.naut
  (EP, 1997)
  
• Come My Fanatics
  (Full-length, 1997)
  
• Electric Wizard/Orange Goblin
  (Split with Orange Goblin, 1997)
  
• Supercoven
  (EP, 1998)
  
• Come My Fanatics & Electric Wizard
  (Double album containing both Come My Fanatics and a remixed version of Electric Wizard, 1999)
  
• Dopethrone
  (Full-length, 2000)
  
• Let Us Prey
  (Full-length, 2002)
  
• We Live
  (Full-length, 2004)
  

All of the above have been released on Rise Above records, but as far as I am aware the distribution is handled by The Music Cartel in certain parts of the world.