The Number One album of 2010

The Number One album of 2010

Before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. We know it is now the eleventh edition of the Countdown. But we celebrate 10 years. 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started to have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2010 had 37 lists to tally which ofcourse made the outcome even more valid for that year. That list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 37 heavy music fiends,  started with Endless Boogie – Full House Head on Number 20. It featured Sasquatch – III on Number 3 and the amazing Been Obscene - The Magic Table Dance on Number 2. About the Number One album from 2010 we wrote:

“The number one album according to 37 lists sent in by the Stoner HiVe peeps; the one that bested number two with a mere six points difference; the one that received the double amount of points that number three received, is a band that has been around since 1993 and released their seventh record this year. And after only a few tones you know that this record continues where the fantastic Witchcult Today left off. Occult and bloody tales of devil-worship and hallucinogenic fantasies full satyrs and other fun scum. With a pure underground seventies sound we are treated to eight ostracisions that are both haunting and hypnotic. Furious bass; droning riffs and a voice that wails as heavy as the guitars provide a wall of sound that feels like a mythical castle to some otherworld creature. It is once again a dark and twisted record that must have been invoked by Lucifer himself. A Mass so great that its addictive power sucks you in leaves you nothing but the humming Blackness of these electrified magicians! The gold medal goes to; the number one album of 2010 according to the Stone HiVe Freaks is…”

We were honored to have Kyle aka Shasta Beast revisit the album for the HiVe…  “A long, long time ago in a HiVe far, far away, the number one place in 2010's countdown was awarded to Black Masses, the seventh entry in the long and storied career of misanthropic doom legends Electric Wizard. Continuing the group's mastery of evil down-tuned audio, upon its release Black Masses was a departure from the cleaner (by Wizard standards), more droning riffage of 2007's "Witchcult Today", wielding a crushing wall of sound coated in haze and filth that called to mind the legendary tones of "Dopesmoker". Amidst all the noise, however, were catchy and driving riffs, particularly those of "Black Mass" and "Venus in Furs", that hinted at the sleek and modern self-described boogie to come on 2017's divisive "Wizard Bloody Wizard". Taking all this into account, revisiting the album is an unexpected delight, as Black Masses shows the Wizard at some of their most energetic and adventurous, from the swirling riffs, psyched out solo, and tribal drums of the excellent "Patterns of Evil" to closer "Crypt of Drugula", a nine minute instrumental creepshow straight from a horror movie, complete with thunder and creaking, otherwordly feedback. In retrospect, Black Masses was a unique and transitional milestone between the Wizard of yore and today, and even buried among such a deep and consistently impressive catalog, the album is a standout and without a doubt still earns its warped and hellish throne at number one.”

Electric Wizard - Black Masses

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2010, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)