# Album Review: Eels – ‘Extreme Witchcraft’

- Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2022/02/album-review-eels-extreme-witchcraft/
- Published: 2022-02-01T19:08:17-05:00
- Author: GuestBlogger

We aren’t going to bore you with a long, drawn-out chunk of this review dedicated
to the fact that the covid pandemic – and its effects on our society – have lasted
too long. Instead, I’m going to put it like this: _Extreme Witchcraft_, the 14th
album by Mark Oliver Everett’s long-running outfit Eels, isn’t his first quarantine
album, but his second.

2020’s gentle _Earth to Dora_ was itself a reaction to the fact that the pandemic
had clipped the wings of Everett – or, as he prefers, simply E – one designed to
give solace to his fans during that downtime. By the time E returns to the road 
and the stage, who knows how many albums he’ll have to promote? Will he be able 
to manage a hat trick?

The pandemic has lasted long enough, though, that life has begun to return to normal
for Eels, and while Dora was produced entirely by E himself, Extreme Witchcraft 
reunites the band with PJ Harvey and Sparklehorse (not to mention Eels’ own Souljacker)
producer John Parish, and with it, Eels return to their more rock-oriented sound.

This alone is a breath of fresh air for Eels fans who prefer the group at their 
most comparatively energetic – which has long been one of the most beloved shades
of Eels – and who will easily sink into the grungier shades of Extreme Witchcraft,
which help elevate songs like “The Magic” (among the best songs here) and “Better
Living Through Desperation,” which are each packed with some pretty hefty firepower.

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The most engaging of the bunch is also the most compelling: “What It Isn’t” oscillates
between softly-delivered verses and jagged choruses. “If it is what it is, then 
I’ve got to say,” he coos as he trails off – just in time for the chorus to suckerpunch
you in the jaw: “Then make it what it isn’t/ Shut up!” he howls over the track’s
dramatic guitars.

[Continue reading at Spectrum Culture by Holly Hazelwood](https://spectrumculture.com/2022/01/27/eels-extreme-witchcraft-review/)