that. Fucking shite. [...] They wanted to put scratching or some shit on one song, and I could've killed them." Anthony Bartkewicz of Decibel commented that the Oborn's lyrics put Dopethrone more in line with death or black metal than Black Sabbath's "hippie-love brother sentiment". Oborn, who wrote all of the album's lyrics, spoke of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard as an influence on his own writing, specifically the atmosphere of Lovecraft's work and Howard's "attitude towards society, these anti-civilization rants. That was a big inspiration for me." On specific Lovecraft stories that inspired him, Oborn cited "The Music of Erich Zann" and "The Dreams in the Witch House", with their themes of the occult being carried into music through time signatures. Oborn described the inspiration of the song "Dopethrone" as a story he had heard about someone who owned a couch made entirely of cannabis. "We Hate You" was inspired by Ozzy Osbourne, whom Oborn described as "always going about how much he fucking loved everyone, so we thought it would be great to go and do the opposite." Release Dopethrone was released on September 25, 2000, by Rise Above Records. The Music Cartel released the album in the United States via mail order on November 20, 2000. It became available in retail shops in January 2001. The album was reissued in 2004; this version included the bonus track "Mind Transferal". The 2004 reissue of the album also had the track "Dopethrone" edited down from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. When asked about this edit in 2007, Oborn responded that he was unaware that the change had been made. Following the release of the album, Electric Wizard toured with the group Sons of Otis, initially in England starting on September 27, 2000, followed by shows across Europe, including Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The tour concluded with a final show in England on October 22 in Bradford. Following the tour, Electric Wizard did their first tour of the United States, becoming the first band on the Rise Above Records label to tour the country. The tour began on March 4, 2001, and concluded on April 8 with a show at South by Southwest. On the tour, the band predominantly toured with Warhorse, while also performing shows with Bongzilla, Cathedral, and Converge. On March 7, the three members of Electric Wizard were searched and interrogated for