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Rating:
The genius of Matt Pike has struck again. The third album of his new band, High on Fire, indeed buries everything and everyone... Cavernous, dark, relentless...
The historic bassist George Rice is gone, and Joe Preston (do the Melvins ring a bell??) has arrived, but most importantly, there has been a break with his longtime producer Billy Andersen, replaced by none other than Steve Albini... Matt's compulsive and powerful riffing meshes with Des Kensel's amazing pulverizing drumming in an incredible way, creating walls of "dirty" sound that occasionally (only occasionally though!) veer into flourishes that somewhat remind of Matt's old and magnificent group: Sleep!
Nine tracks, 53 minutes and small change demonstrating how the Oakland band has achieved the feat of making an album that is so sparse, raw, annihilating, monolithic that after a few listens it's likable for precisely this reason. Thrash, sludge, stoner all blended in an original and furious way, yet if one can say, concealed jealously behind the monumental sound characteristic of this great band; I don't want to name one song over another, the album's opening suffices to explain everything: tribal drums and then... well listen to it!!! It really seems that upon first listen, this album repels you because it is so dense, dark, and challenging, but afterwards it's something fantastic... A mental journey created by someone who knows a thing or two about musical (and not only!!) mental journeys: Jerusalem by Sleep... someone remembers them, right?? Everything bursts with the devastating ending of the album: "To cross the bridge" and "Silver Back" two gems that push the album to its limit, which instead closes with "Sons of Thunder" a psychedelic ride that ferries the listener out of this nightmare (in a good sense, of course!!) in music. Forget their previous albums "The Art Of Self-Defense" and "Surrounded By Thieves" both still very valid and dive into what in my very humble opinion is a masterpiece period.
P.s: live they are nothing short of earth-shaking!! Don't miss them on April 22 at Bloom... I eagerly await approvals, denials, and damnations!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Devilution (04:46)
Man's done, Babylon, eat the fruit divine,
wasted labyrinth
Snake's tounge, lies sung, master of disguise,
poison conqueror
War torn, plague born, live in ancient wrath,
executioner
Shapeshift, lives sift, pain in the child's eyes,
last rite spoken - Devilution
Web spun, death comes, bring the blackened tide,
rising war god
Blood lit planet awakes the lurking time,
raging maelstrom
Arcane macabre diety arrives
spewing hellfire
Twisted acrid abominating guise,
promised vengeance - Devilution
Dark king suffering, know the elder's toll,
deceiving millions
Men hung, pain comes, worship me or die,
as you lie broken
End all wars call, stand your ground and try,
hopeless victim
Man's done, Babylon, eat the fruit divine,
wasted labyrinth - Devilution
06 Anointing of Seer (05:39)
Onward the seer,
glass ships of fear, maruder's path
Gaze in her eyes,
sacred and wise, prophecy
Lost in her trance,
in her eyes the flames dance, foreboding
Truth of her days,
black endless rays, shows the skryer
Damsel in chains,
for love the bard reigns, destroyer
Skills surpass strength,
towers that quake, song of doom
Unsinkable stars,
bring powers at large, the day they mote
The shaking of Teir,
sonic psalm terrors, chains are freed
Onward the seer,
glass ships of fear, maruder's path
Gaze in her eyes,
sacred and wise, prophecy
Come to me champion
your life has been sieged in me
Calling from distances
yearning to be set free
Come to me champion
your life has been sieged in me
Calling from distances
yearning to be set free
Onward the seer,
glass ships of fear, maruder's path
Gaze in her eyes,
sacred and wise, prophecy
Lost in her trance,
in her eyes the flames dance, foreboding
Truth of her days,
black endless rays, shows the skryer
Damsel in chains,
for love the bard reigns, destroyer
Skills surpass strength,
towers that quake, song of doom
Come to me champion
your life has been sieged in me
Calling from distances
yearning to be set free
Come to me champion
your life has been sieged in me
Calling from distances
yearning to be set free
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