Electric Wizard "Dopethrone"

Dopethrone is the third studio album by the English doom metal band Electric Wizard. It was released on 28 November 2000 through Rise Above Records and re-released by the same label in 2004 and 2007 with an extra song.

Jus Oborn late spoke about the development of Dopethrone as being part of trilogy with Come My Fanatics…, and Supercoven, noting that he looked upon these albums with fondness and that "With those albums, I believe we really found our mark as a band. When we did our first album, none of us had ever been into the studio before – and had no clue what to actually do. But by the time we got to do Dopethrone, we knew what was needed – or, rather I did!"

Speaking to Kerrang! in July 2009, Jus Oborn remembered:

"Most of us were stuck in some drug addiction or alcoholism at the time, and it was just pure hate. It was us against the world, and we just wanted to make the most disgusting, foul, putrid record that anyone has ever recorded. We camped out at the studio, so it was literally just wake up, consume as much fucking drugs as possible, and then just start jamming."

Dopethrone, along with Come My Fanatics..., is often cited as Electric Wizard's seminal release and the highpoint of their career. Reviewers have described it as "some of the absolute slowest, heaviest doom imaginable" and have said "it may well be the finest record to emerge from the whole British stoner-rock scene. The Terrorizer magazine crowned the album as "Album of the Decade" (2000s). In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 2000 by Metal Hammer magazine.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jus Oborn and Tim Bagshaw.

1. "Vinum Sabbathi" 3:05
2. "Funeralopolis" 8:43
3. "Weird Tales" 15:05
4. "Barbarian" 6:29
5. "I, The Witchfinder" (a.k.a. "Las Torturas de la Inquisicion") 11:04
6. "The Hills Have Eyes" 0:46
7. "We Hate You" 5:08
8. "Dopethrone" (track length is 10:55 on 2004 and 2007 re-release) 20:48
9. "Mind Transferral" (bonus track on 2004 and 2007 re-release) 14:56

Dopethrone ends at 10:26 (on both issues) and is followed by silence; to the end of the track on the reissue and until 19:52 on the original. On the original, the ending features a 55 sec. sound clip from 20/20 in which two adults can be heard talking about whether or not a parent should take action if their child is being negatively influenced by heavy metal music by becoming depressed and joining satanic cults.

The reissue negates the sound-clip from "Dopethrone" and has it end in 30 seconds of silence and moves on to the bonus track which, in this essence, makes it a hidden track. The band had decided to move the sound clip to the end of the bonus track "Mind Transferal" which ends at 9:36 followed by silence until 14:00 where the sound-clip is now placed and leads to the end of the album. On the vinyl versions of Dopethrone the soundclip comes immediately after "Mind Transferral" ends.

Was released with two different sets of cover art.

All further editions, except the 2000 US edition on The Music Cartel contains the bonus track "Mind Transferral".

Recording information:

Recorded at Chuckalumba Studios (Dorset, England), May-June 2000.

Mastered at Chop Em Out (London, England).