This week, the algorithm decided to spit forth an eponymous album from a band by the name of Magick Potion, to which I thought, “Cool! A new archival release from Ancient Grease Records!” Surely, with a moniker like that and a wardrobe straight out of the swinging ’60s, there’s no way these dudes were of this century…right? Wrong. Based out of Baltimore, the land of Deathfest and Cal Ripken Jr., Magick Potion are the latest trio of fuzzed-out freaks to tackle the tripped out proto-metallic sounds of the late ’60s and early ’70s: An era that seems to be further neglected in the scope of metal history as time goes on.
Obviously, you don’t need me to tell you that Black Sabbath weren’t alone in their quest to spread the “devil’s music”. There were countless bands leading up to their unholy birth (i.e. Blue Cheer, Vanilla Fudge, Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple (Mk. 1)), as well as the wave of bands who emerged after (i.e. Uriah Heep, Budgie, Lucifer’s Friend, Sir Lord Baltimore, and Deep Purple (Mk. 2)), that helped establish the sound we know today as heavy metal. And contrary to whatever pretentious millennial assholes say today about these bands merely being “hard rock” because they don’t sound like Reign in Blood or Left Hand Path (you know the types I’m talking about), well, they simply don’t know any better. Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Magick Potion falls smack dab in the middle of metal’s sonic advent, with some cuts sounding straight off of a Sabbath album circa ’70, while others could pass as the musical death knell of the flower power era circa the summer of ’69. This is particularly the case for the first two songs, “Fever Dream” and “Empress”: Tripped out voyages of downer rock devastation. The instruments are loud and clear, emboldened by fuzzed out caveman riffs, undeniable grooves, and a genuinely vintage production. Two songs in, and Magick Potion have already made a strong argument for incarnation: They may as well be the second coming of Blue Cheer!
While those first two cuts could be classified as “doom rock”, the pummeling “Love with a Wizard” and “Never Change” double down on the darkness, going full blown early doom metal. Caught somewhere between Sabbath and Pentagram, “Never Change” even boasts a vocal melody eerily similar to Sabbath’s “A National Acrobat”, but I’ll let it slide. True to the era that’s being paid homage, this prehistoric heaviness is fleshed out by figurative palette cleanses. Whether it be dreamy psych ballads (“Chateau Nights”), Led Zeppelin III-esque folk rock (“Pagan”), or droning raga rockers (“Wild Perfumes”), Magick Potion prove that they’re more than a one trick, proto-metal pony.
By no means are Magick Potion reinventing the wheel. If anything, they’re throwing it back to the Neanderthals who invented the damn wheel to begin with. One thing, however, is for certain: These dudes rock and they rock HARD. In an age where the NWOTHM and death metal/hardcore hybrids are all the rage, Magick Potion have tapped the proto-metal vein with honor and class. Mr. Bartender, I’ll be ordering a double shot of this here elixir!
7 out of 10
Label: RidingEasy Records
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Pentagram