Eels 'Extreme Witchcraft' (2022) ****

Eels have released a lot of great albums. Extreme Witchcraft (2022), their fourteenth (!) studio LP in 26 years, is easily one of their Top 5. Mark Oliver Everett (or "E," as he's known) essentially is Eels, and he's self-produced most of their albums. Extreme Witchcraft is the second Eels album co-produced by John Parish, who co-produced another one of the band's best albums, Souljacker, 21 years earlier. 

Right from the get-go, it's obvious that Parish put his stamp on this record—the heavily layered sound here is similar to Souljacker, but filtered through the life experiences that E has had since then. I'm a pretty big fan of Eels, and I do appreciate the more sad, slow aspects of a lot of E's music. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I prefer this type of Eels album—namely fun and rockin'.