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Friday Morning Metal – Margarita Witch Cult – Diabolical Influence

Time to get your frilly leather jacket out of storage, it’s doomy/groovy 70s metal from Margarita Witch Cult! Coming straight out of Birmingham, West Midlands, England, they’ll wallop you in the nugget with their groovy hooks.

Diabolical Influence starts with the main hook right off the bat, and if you’re not bobbing your head or drinking a cheap lager, you might not be as into metal as I previously thought. I guess you could also use this as the background music for your basement D&D sesh, or playing with a Ouija board and “seriously I’m not moving the planchette it’s doing it on its own!” The song itself is pretty straightforward with the hook, but there’s a proper 70’s-style noodly solo that really ties things together toward the end. Doesn’t waste too much time at 4 minutes and change, and I imagine you can only say Diabolical Influence so many times before it loses meaning. Kinda like saying Angel Witch 26 times.

The video even gives huge throwback Sabbath vibes, with double exposures and that weird melty overlay that makes it look like the projector is getting a little too hot. The band lives up to the vibe with their hair and outfits, as though they were plucked out of a bar in 1972 and dropped in the nowadays. It’s a good look for them, they don’t look uncomfortable in their getups, which is important. Though it would be funny if like the drummer was dressed up like a time traveler from 2522, or like a Starfleet reject.