Stoned

After two releases with questionable length, the witch is back to kick some ass. The band already proved that they don't need Lasse Pyykkö to make A tier death/doom on Midnight Mass, but the real question is if they are able to pull off the same thing on a full-length. And the answer is no, they didn't pull it off again. They made an album 10 times better than that already great EP while they also managed to completely embrace their heavy and stoner metal influences. While it's not as perfect as the debut, it's really not an album that anyone should overlook. Actually, I might even say this album is better than Hooded Menace's album that came out the same year as this one (and in my opinion that's the strongest Hooded Menace album yet).

Let's start from the beginning. The main difference between this and the debut album is the vocals and the use of the keyboards. Lasse Pyykkö had left the band at this point, so his suffocating deep growls are nowhere to be found. Luckily, the two lads that are still in the band got us covered with less deep, but more melodic and classic doom-y sounding vocals. It is your basic death/doom vocals with a tiny bit of Cathedral hinted in. This could be said about their later releases too, but I am getting ahead of myself. On this album they picked up another new "habit", that might throw off some fans of the debut: they use the synth way more. You can find it in almost every song taking up a significant part. Not only does it not take anything away from the heaviness, but dare I say it adds to it a lot? The psychedelic elements rule the entire album, making an atmosphere stronger than what the previous releases had (yes, even stronger than Witchtanic Hellucinations). It might throw a lot of people off obviously, but as a band they have to evolve their sound, and I gotta say that this is the perfect direction to make memorable and unique music.

The guitar riffs have a lot more stoner, heavy and classic doom metal influences. The perfect example for this would be Stoned to the Grave which coincidentally might just be the all time best Acid Witch song. Not only does it have a great beginning which is the expected quality from the band, but it has the BEST RIFF - hands down (right before the solo towards the middle of the song) since Into the Cave, and in many ways it absolutely sets a new standard for the band in terms of riffing. The same expert riffing could be said about Witchfynder Finder, Trick or Treat, Thundering Hooves, and Sabbath of the Undead, but they still don't manage to stand out as much as Stoned to the Grave. The production is also something that is worth mentioning. It's perfectly mixed in almost every single way, you can always hear the vocals when they wanted you to pay attention to that; the heavy fucking riffs are always in the front of the mix. What else would you want?

But, of course, it has it's own share of mistakes, even though it doesn't have too many. I find the intro Satanic Faith more annoying than atmospheric, but I can't say it shouldn't be there because it transitions into the next song way too well. Whispers in the Dark is a 3-minute long interlude track, but it might just be the greatest of its kind that the band have ever made, thanks to its crazy atmosphere. It's really impossible for me to think off anything really bad about this album.

Overall, Stoned might not be the shiniest diamond on the Acid Witch crown, but it stands out as the 2nd best release from the band to this day, which is something to be proud of when we are talking about a band with a near perfect discography. It's hard not to love it when everything is at the right place. It's also the album that foreshadowed the style of the 3rd album which is... well... questionable.

The highlights of the album are: Stoned to the Grave, Witchfynder Finder, and Trick or Treat.

Just by looking at the cover of the album, I knew there was something different about this band. I mean, how many bands have a theme about witches, horror, and drugs? Well, maybe some choose to go with either one of them, but having all of it as a theme? That's quite odd actually...But doesn't make it any less epic for that.

It kicks off with ''Satanic Faith'', a creepy but appropriate beginning that gives the listener a clue about what theme of this album is (horror and witchcraft to sum it up). It's more of an intro than anything else, so don't expect any growls or hard riffs on this one. They get the chance to shine on the next track, ''Witchfynder Finder''. It starts with some great riffs and spine-chilling growls, and by spine-chilling, I really mean just that. A creepy voice that fits this ''doomy/drug/witch-theme'' perfectly! The track ends with a great solo. So far so good! The next track is ''Trick or Treat'', an almost addictive song. This chorus sticks to your mind like glue! I still find myself singing that one, albeit with a low tune, so I won't scare the shit out of everyone close to me. Next song ''Thundering Hooves'' starts out with a really heavy riff, and it keeps on going and going. Simply beautiful! And if you are in for some great solos, then the next track might also be something to check out, namely ''Live Forever''.

Well, to be honest, the whole album continues with great solos and heavy riffs so no need to mention that for every track. Although there are a few that sticks out a little more than others. The end track, for example, has a very creepy feeling about it. If you ask me, that might very well be the best solo on the whole album! The drumming continues to be good, and so does vocals. But I have to mention that ''Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown'' have the same tendency to get stuck in your head, just like ''Trick or Treat''. A very catchy track that is one of my favorites out of this album.

What I haven't mentioned in my review, is that this band is like taking a drop of Black Sabbath, put down some drugs in it, add some growls and mix it! It turns out to be a magical and awesome trip for sure!

Coming off the success of "Witchtanic Hellucinations" and no longer working with vocalist Lasse Pyykkö (Also of Hooded Menace) Some would say that this effort is hence lackluster in comparison, they're fucking idiots. All of the elements that made "Witchtanic Hellucinations) so enjoyable are also on this album, the over the top Halloween/b-movie aesthetic , the samples, simple but effective leads, ounces of weed reference and deadly keyboard parts that makes you sit there thinking "Damn, I wish more bands used their keyboards this effectively." While some bands use it to augment their sound (and often badly) Acid Witch seem to work a keyboard part into a song like it was written with that in mind, and not just an afterthought.

One thing is particular about this album I like is how the songs tell stories, it's like listening to a horror movie on tape, especially "Stoned to the Grave" and "Trick of Treat". While clocking in at around 40 minutes there are a couple songs that are more or less instrumental with samples and a couple spoken words. While I believe this does help to cultivate a certain mystique, at times it feels a little lazy and after a few listens I found myself skipping these for the meatier track. But I digress, this album is definitely a sum of it's parts, each song is a part of the journey and it does end up being a pretty fun ride. At times perhaps a bit tedious, but overall if you sit through it you'll probably have a pretty damn fun time.

Something else I really enjoy is the total devotion to the finer things in life, metal, punk, comic books, horror movies, marijuana and all things related to October 31. This is one of those albums I have nothing but fun growling along with and headbanging too, something that's a rare occurrence for me as I tend to listen to mainly BM. But something about this album is infectious, almost possessive, you start out with arms crossed and brows furrowed and end up playing air-instruments and banging your head madly. The samples are also really well done, with the intro being one of my favourite of all time, I just wish I knew where the sample was from!. But, enough of my prattling on, if you find yourself being a fan of infectious riffs and keyboards, well written and entertaining lyrics and anything related to horror. You should check this out.

It's a fucking monolith, the most badass and catchy riffs mixed in with disgusting production from hell!!!
Acid Witch return with their second Full Length Record, Stoned. While "WItchtanic"may have been a DAMN FINE ALBUM, it it absolutely nothing compared to the sheer magnitude of this. "Stoned" starts out with the intro track Satanic Faith, which has an almost unnameable creepy quality to it, which just kick starts the album into a whirlwind of destruction, crunchy riffage, mind-destroying, face shredding musical insanity. And to add fire to the films, the music has a feel of an authentic 80's horror film, that being meant in the best way imaginable!

The guitars are about as awesome as they can possibly get, with the crusty sounding production coating all but the occasional hair-raising solo. The album is full of reefer-encrusted, truly massive riffs that fill the album with their sheer heaviness. Every fucking sound made by the guitar is memorable to extreme! The sick and equally crunchy bass is pretty much viewed the same way. Being distinctive and noticeable playing along with the guitar, they also bring in some quality intro and interlude parts within the songs (exanple: Witchfynder Finder).Drums keep a good backbone to the music, mainly blending into the music with it's lower mixing into the album. They do keep the rythmn nicely and play a great role in atmosphere, I wish the drummer had decided to utilize a few more fills and some cymbal work that accents the guitars better.

Now, the keyboards weren't honestly a huge part of "Witchtanic", they mainly served as intros, interludes or bridges there, which made them a nice but fleeting part of that record. Not so here! The kryboards play the most important part on this CD here. They keep a constant eerie, horror film atmosphere throughout most of the songs, and one of the best songs on here is probably the interlude "Whispers In The Dark", which is probably the single most repulsive and eerily haunting piece of music anywhere to this day. They can carry the lead (Trick Or Treat) and it's even more memorable then the guitars which is saying a shit ton.

This cd is probably one of the best things to listen to while high ever recorded, they blow stoner doom, death, traditional metal and more then a few other slime-drenched sub-genres into a combined disgusting, enigmatic new dimension of pure unrelenting awesomeness. I'd recommend "Stoned" to just about anything with a functioning brain. It's that fucking good. I'm completely serious. This is the Indecent & Obscene of stoner doom.

Worship this.

Well this is interesting: Acid Witch's latest offering 'Stoned' is something of a concept album about a group of somewhat untalented but earnest teenagers who attempt to write an album in the style of 'Witchtanic Hellucinations'! The sheer level of ineptitude in terms of not only song writing but musicianship is uncanny to the point where I really do feel like I'm listening to some piss poor tribute band! Acid Witch really have gone above and beyond in emulating how poorly-

Ughhhhhh, fuck this. I can't keep up this silly gimmick for more than a paragraph because it's painful trying to be excited about a band shitting up a sound they'd managed to secure with their debut. Sure, it wasn't particularly innovative but it was, and still is a fun little package of death/doom mashed together with psychedelic leads and keyboards.

Unfortunately 'Stoned' is basically 'Witchtanic Hellucinations' with a sickeningly sterile guitar tone, the exact same fucking lead and keyboard work reused ad nauseum and riffs taken from Chapter 1 of "Razoback's Official Guide to Death/Doom for the Uninspired". All of this is pasted together in a fairly generic fashion; intro - verse - chorus - verse - chorus - bridge - trill/keyboard/pentatonic scale practice - end with some of those squealing bent notes at random intervals through out the entire song. Maybe the tinkling church organ sounding keyboard in the introduction or during a refrain or bridge.

Beyond that describing 'Stoned' in any greater detail would be excessive for music that is bland and unimaginative on a scale that would impress Iced Earth. One more album in the same vein and I think we can safely lump Acid Witch in with the other gimmick bands. Fuck, may as well write them off now because people seem to be happy to have another Acid Witch album, which of course gives them a free license to be self-xeroxing jerks for however long they can get away with it.

Acid Witch are clearly onto something with their mix of classic horror and stoner aesthetics, beautifully realized and corny album covers, and downtrodden death/doom inspired by the legends of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Indeed, they produce the sort of works that one looks at and instantly associates with 'cool'. But the music itself, while clearly sniffing heretics down the right track, has yet to truly grip me. Witchtanic Hellucinations was a fun debut, showing sincere promise, but it left no lasting impression save to remember the band's name and uncanny visual knacks. The Witch House EP built upon this, with a few of their better songs, but the more recent Midnight Mass EP wasn't quite as good, and I was afraid we might encounter some pre-mature stagnation.

Well, the bruising sophomore Stoned proves that this is not the case, as it's the most coherent and musically satisfying offering the band have released to date. Sort of a poor man's Hooded Menace (not that much of a coincidence, as Lasse was once involved here), or a less depressing Electric Wizard, they riff through silly and classic horror concepts with real enthusiasm, taking subjects like Halloween rituals and dope smoking and writing up some decent lyrics to complement the music. They're not your average death/doom band, because they sauce up the metallic meat with a stoner rock influence, manifest through organs that feel like they belong to a Coven or Black Widow record, and it is this generational clash that helps them stand out from the faceless masses of dull funeral parlor death that have nothing stirring in their cauldrons.

"Satanic Faith" is a synthesizer intro piece which uses similar sampling to the intro of their Midnight Mass EP, but this time it pays off when the sludgy mono chords of the amusingly titled "Witchfynder Finder" erupt into big, simple chords that immediately transported me back to Monster Magnet's Superjudge, etc, but with the added advantage of the death barks. This is not the most powerful pick of the litter, an honor that I should instead bestow upon the carnal crush of "Live Forever", morose "Stoned to the Grave", or the balls out wrecking of "If Hell Exists". Rounding out the metal mass are pieces like the creepy, beautiful horror interlude "Whispers in the Dark" or the sample heavy groove bottomed "Thundering Hooves". Even the poorly titled "Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown" has some heft to it (points for name dropping Lizzy Borden and Fastway), and the epic finale "Sabbath of the Undead" is likewise satisfactory.

But for all its improvements to the formula, better production, and so forth, Stoned does still lack in one particular space. The riffs here all fit the band's m.o.: huge, bludgeoning aspirations to the psyche. Unfortunately, they're really just not that great. Never once will you find a surprise lurking in any of the compositions. At best, the band will pull off a lead or organ sequence that conditions you to their overarching, ghoulish experience, but they just don't seem capable of writing a riff that will simmer your brain for long after the music dies. They're not boring, and they're not 'bad', but they seem redundant and familiar to the decades of doom metal we've already experienced. Without the atmospherics, they'd likely fall flat. Stoned, however, drowns itself in atmosphere, like an ungodly hybrid of Bongzilla, Cathedral and Runemagick, so as a whole, it delivers more entertainment than any of their prior releases, and comes the closest yet to honoring the band's visual spin with music of equal quality.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com