LP Review: "Electric Messiah" by High On Fire

Electric Messiah

Electric Messiah by High On Fire.

That kind of rhymes a bit right?

That's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. What is here and there, is that High On Fire is back! It's not like it's been forever, but it has been three years since 2015's Luminiferous.

Our friends from Oaktown remind me of guys like Ace Frehley because you know roughly, what they can do and what sorts of music they're going to deliver.

If that's the case, why would I feel different ways about each album? That's a question that'll go unanswered from me. It's just the wild card of personal taste. This record though, if you don't like High On Fire, won't convince you that there's something different.

It's full of thick, sludgy, stonerish, metal. Matt Pike is on fire on this release, no pun intended. His vocals sound fresher to me than they ever have and his guitarwork is inspired. The rhythm section is boisterous in the bolstering of the shirtless wonder.

It's very hard for a band to come out swinging this hard this late in their career.

Release: 10/05/18 FACEBOOK PREORDER

Review: "De Vermis Mysteriis" by High On Fire

This is my first foray into what is called Stoner Thrash. I can remember when I was a little kid listening to what we termed heavy metal because that's what Steppenwolf called it, but now there are so many designations of what metal is and part of it is where it's from, but this really has nothing to do with this album, and I'm rambling about this, so I'll move on.

High On Fire is a power trio from Oakland. "De Vermis Mysteriis" is the sixth release by the trio and it's supposedly a high minded concept album about a very strange story.

 The story line revolves around a character who's the twin brother of Jesus Christ who has to give his life force to the incubating messiah so that Jesus may live and redeem the world as foretold, but then after giving his life force to his in utero brother, he becomes a time traveler on the order of Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. Confused yet? So was I, but I became very intrigued and I bought the CD.