Margarita Witch Cult – Sacrifice
Similar artists: Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sleep, Queens of the Stone Age, High on Fire
If there is a movie genre in that rock music does the best job of soundtracking, then it’s horror. That’s not a secret! Ask most stoned-out rock kids what they enjoy, and loud guitars and slasher flicks will be high on their list.
But any horror movie fan will tell you that finding a gem isn’t easy. The majority of these film productions lack quality. The stories are predictable, they are poorly directed, and they’re made for a pittance.
Heavy metal is much the same. Sure, Black Sabbath may have ushered in a potentially glorious era of metal and horror. In their attempt to sound shocking, however, many of their predecessors fail to surprise.
Margarita Witch Cult’s Sacrifice sound like hippie children with guitars turned murderers. After all, many 1960s cults had a penchant for creating music. What the band does best is blend heavy, detuned guitar riffs with flower-children melodies. The result is unsettling, bloody, and, best of all, highly entertaining.
Emiliano Ortiz – Killing Spree
Genre: Hard Rock, Grunge, Alternative Rock
Pop art is a big concern nowadays. Visual artists and rockstars get their Netflix specials, their places in contemporary art museums, and even statues in their hometowns. They’ve never been more respected, and never has there been more attention given to them as individuals or to their work. This is all a good thing, sure, albeit something that seems to take away the powerful blow that their art often provides.
Not enough has been made, however, of the connection between great art and evil. Truth be told, the honest biographies of most truly interesting artists feature some terrible traits and behavior that would not recommend them as your potential best friend. Going further, most truthful biographies reveal many of them to have true bastards. I am sorry to say that this greatly influenced a lot of the work, songs included, that you all cherish.
Emiliano Ortiz is done playing the nice guy and instead leans into a greasy, obnoxious persona on the swaggering Killing Spree. This is not a song about falling in love but rather stealing love. This is not a tune that pleads for forgiveness but rather mocks the concept altogether. It’s not an idea worth praising but a song worth checking out. It’s enough to scramble a poor Millenial’s brain.
