High On Fire, Electric Messiah - album review
What inspired this eighth record by metal doomsters High On Fire was a dream that frontman Matt Pike had about the late, great Lemmy.
Having always been compared to the Motorhead legend due to his similarly gravelly voice, he had experienced a dream where Lemmy was giving him all sorts of stick over the comparisons.
Upon awaking, Pike decided to pay homage to the great artist, and here it is.
What we have is nine tracks of explosive and corrosive metal that varies in speed and ferocity but stays consistent with its thumping undercurrents and gates of hell vocals.
To start with, we have the title track that is where the homage to Lemmy began. Fast and gritty, it never lets up with its intensity and thrash melodies. Would Lemmy himself be proud? Pike hopes so, saying: "I wanted to pay homage to him in a great way."
We feel he does.
Elsewhere is the brooding, bubbling rhythm to Steps of The Ziggurat/House Of Enlil. Those foreboding drums throughout from Des Kensel are relentless. They immediately evoke images of the great battle scenes from movies past. Think of the orcs marching on Helm's Deep in Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers or Skynet's robotic enforcers descending down the rubble piles at the beginning of Terminator 2. The end is nigh indeed.
Sanctioned Annihilation does everything you would expect it to with such a title. Again, Kensel sounds the incoming doom as Pike scratches his messages across the top. It's 10-and-a-half minutes of fear and loathing, guitars scrawling over the carcasses left behind by the percussion and Jeff Matz's punching bass.
And we also have The Witch And The Christ. This is perhaps the highest octane track on the record. Pike's rolling guitars hold court as they build a wall of sound that is all-encompassing and pushes you to your knees to pay attention.
Its a trick repeated in God Of The Godless, but this time Kensel again lends an able hand by shoving the riffs along in front of him with his powerful stick work.
It's brash and ready for a brawl. And that's why it sounds so tantalising.
Rating: 9/10
High On Fire play at Birmingham's The Mill on October 12
