Dave Chamberlain

Gotta kick this off with a caveat: if you don't like heavy metal, stop reading because High on Fire won't likely convert any non-believers. The main drawing point for High on Fire is Matt Pike, former guitarist for the lumbering doom giant Sleep. (For those not in the know, Sleep was the slowest, most bludgeoning of the early nineties doom/stoner metalists; the band's final record, "Jerusalem," is a one-song, fifty-minute opus to smoking weed.) High on Fire, however, hardly recalls Sleep. Instead of molasses build-ups and sonorous power riffs, High on Fire ups the pace and savagery. High on Fire's first record, 2000's "The Art of Self Defense," was brutally heavy and extremely ugly in tone, but didn't do much for me over time. Its latest, "Surrounded by Thieves" (Relapse), could blackout the sky like fifty atomic detonations—in fact, the record's cover art depicting a medieval battle waged by axe-bearing manthings couldn't be more appropriate, as one listen leaves you feeling like a suit of battered armor. The rhythm section of bassist George Rice and drummer Des Kensel is pummeling at its kindest, a double-bass loaded howitzer at its cruelest. And there's no attempt here to soften the blows with melodic vocals, as Pike (handling double duty as guitarist and vocalist) buries his voice under the mayhem; fortunately, vocals aren't the reason you're listening to High on Fire. Every track on "Surrounded by Thieves" brings an arsenal of insanely heavy guitar riffs, punctuated by subtle directional and time shifts. And lest you think this is just metal, during "Speedwolf" there's an eleven-second moment when HoF strips away everything but Pike's buzzsaw guitar, leaving a segue so violent and sloppy, I imagine it might bring a tear to the eyes of Exploited.

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