What's going on with High on Fire?

i think i explained my problems with it in detail in another thread which maybe i'll go look for.

vocal mix isn't the problem with this (i just got to it today btw)--it's that there's no top end unless a guitar lead is happening and the drums have been COMPLETELY NEUTERED. like the opening to the 7th track should be majestic and awesome but really kinda isn't cause the snare and cymbals are so fuckin weak.

too bad, there's a lot to like: i actually really dig pike playing up the vocal performance, he seems to be having a lot of fun with it. and there's more bass on here than any other hof record. songwriting seems really sharp on once pass; more so than death is this communion which meandered a lot. but i think this is always going to sound a little caged to me.

― call all destroyer, Friday, February 26, 2010 6:18 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark

I don't know, I really kinda loved Death Is This Communion - I stan hardest for Blessed Black Wings & Surrounded Buy Thieves, they're like two different vintages of the same distilled spirit, so cool. But I really warmed up to Death Is This Communion after seeing it live. It's like the most emotional HoF record, to me.

I am enjoying Surrounded Buy Thieves as a solution to a problem. Surrounded? Buy Thieves!

don't know, I really kinda loved Death Is This Communion - I stan hardest for Blessed Black Wings & Surrounded Buy Thieves, they're like two different vintages of the same distilled spirit, so cool. But I really warmed up to Death Is This Communion after seeing it live. It's like the most emotional HoF record, to me.

― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, August 18, 2010 12:58 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I need to revisit this one, havent spun it in a long time. If I remember, its got the most acoustic touches of any HOF album, definitely the "most mellow" though that's a relative term.

aero: no prob. and yeah, you're right -- the waveform bricking happens in mastering

- first album since Surround by Thieves where the second half is stronger

maybe that's a flaw? how dark we pray and fire spitter are magnificent, but i wonder how many people tune out before getting there.

as absolutely everyone knows, the issue with Death Magnetic isn't production, it's mastering

1. LOL YOU LISTENED TO DEATH MAGNETIC

2. as absolutely everyone knows, the issue with Death Magnetic isn't production, it's mastering songwriting (or lack thereof)

3. LOL YOU LISTENED TO DEATH MAGNETIC

yea I attributed the praise of Death Magnetic to how much better it was than the pieces of rhino doodoo the three albums that preceded it were, leading to overrating the work*. It's certainly not bad, there's moments that I enjoy, and some good riffs, but ultimately I think if anybody else released that album in 2008 the populace would have been so what.

(*I realize many people authentically like/love the album so back off, just making a general statement.)

also I love the production on the new High on Fire. the guitars are sludgey, gritty, yet clear and cut through, so that you can follow. I like the drum mix, and yea the vocals are up a little high but they add nicely.

great album.

Drums sound great on this. Best sounding one is BBW. The first two sound like they were recorded in caves, and "Death" is pretty polished and shiny. BBW is just old school 70s style analog goodness.

ilxor, yr loss d00d, not mine

sample lyrics:

"splatter some color on this gray"
"love is a four-letter word"

O___O

needs more _______________________

.________________________________________________________________________.

love those lines so much. late-career metallica is such a hilariously glorious mess

BLACKENED IS THE END
WINTER IT WILL SEND
THROWING ALL YOU SEE
INTO OBSCURITY

love is a four-letter word

"glorious" is not something id use for it, and this is coming from someone who likes Load.

loads dope

anyway, feel free to get back to high on fire. i should start a markers metallica challops thread someday

again?

Load contains some of the most ear-excruciating crap. I'll maybe put in a good word for "Until It Sleeps" and "2x4" if I'm feeling nice but dear God, what the hell is Poor Twisted Me? Wasting My Hate? Outlaw Torn? vomit

xpost

again? dont think ive started one before

Please move the nu-metallica discussion out of here.

great point bill

'Snakes For The Divine' is my first and only HoF album, and I love it. I keep meaning to get more of their stuff, but I simply never see any of their other LPs (I want vinyl) on my travels. I must look into ordering a couple. I take it from this and other threads that it's basically all good.

some hof vinyl just got reissued!

Yes, it is. It's all really good.

xpost

It seems quite tough to find their vinyl, even online (going by my - ahem - 3 minutes of searching). I'll have to do a bit more digging

eh? it's all on sale at http://shop.relapse.com/

http://shop.relapse.com/store/product.aspx?ProductID=39922
http://shop.relapse.com/store/product.aspx?ProductID=20362
http://shop.relapse.com/store/product.aspx?ProductID=26136

or

http://www.allthatisheavy.com/search.asp?SearchTerm=high+on+fire

Cheers v much. I was just checking my usual online shops, which tend not to sell too much metal.

Order on the way...

^^ and I'd rather order within Europe. Cheers for the tips though - might fall back on them if other options fail.

BBW sounds great on vinyl. relapse did a nice job with these.

Oh where are you? i assumed you were in the us.
best place in europe is http://www.musicfearsatan.com/en/nouveautes.html

http://www.musicfearsatan.com/en/recherche/req;HIGH%20ON%20FIRE;.html

Hey, no worries -- thanks for the links! I've just ordered BBW.

yeah, relapse did a great job with these reissues. a boon to surrounded and DITC, the original versions of which tried to pack too much time into their grooves. sound amazing with 2 LP's worth of breathing room.

digging this snakes for the devine

"Fire Flood & Plague" might be the definitive HoF song. It's what they do that no one else can do, sliding between heavy and fast like they're the same thing, while keeping the whole song, the whole story, right in the cross-hairs.

still think that the definitive HoF song = like "10,000 years" or maybe "thraft of canaan", but shit yeah, that's a jam.

What's going on with High on Fire?

They're invariably smoking a heroic amount of dope.

inspired by this thread to revisit this album this morning. it's better than I'd thought! really great! some of the punk beats on for example "ghost neck" are part of an if-not-general-surely-present mood among some metal bands to re-engage with some of their hardcore ancestry, which I dig when it feels natural, as here. somebody mentioned the psychedelia of i.e. "blessed black wings" and that's hof at their best for me: when you feel like there's a degree of wastedness sufficient to reach transcendence. snakes kicks a lot more ass than I'd thought, but am I looking for d-beat tributes while high? generally no. I like this better than the debut, but this & the debut are 2nd-tier HoF; blessed black wings & death is this communion & surrounded by thieves are all top top notch. still, I mean, 2nd-tier hof is still as good as most bands' best.

did not make it through their whole set last night, but did catch blessed black wings and one of the songs i liked from death is this communion. they're still pretty vicious and good live for sure, but their records have felt increasingly rote to me.

yeah I would give a 2nd listen to the back half of snakes for the divine - it's v. solid imo

nice coming around, aero. listened to a good chunk of snakes last night, with a few comparison tracks from the early albums, and dig it more every time i play it, especially at neighbor-hating volume. love the clarity and toughness of the sound, classic without being directly reminiscent of anyone but themselves, and there's still enough miasmic goo in the production for the vibes to go all woozy when pike stretches out. quibble:

snakes kicks a lot more ass than I'd thought, but am I looking for d-beat tributes while high? generally no.

yeah, but throw in a healthy pinch of "and drunk" and it starts to make a lot more sense

and xpost yeah, especially those last two tracks holy shit

i have found that it generally improves everything to imagine that i am pleasing, or at least placating, the lizard people when i play the new album.

Okay, Pike kept baiting the Chapel Hill crowd to get into more, threatening "this is like your encore already...", But closing with "Snakes" shows that he still knows he's at the top of his game. Next time, I'd like to see them closer to a weekend. Wish they played another hour.