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User
Reviews 10
Approval 97%
Soundoffs 70
News Articles 3
Band Edits + Tags 16
Album Edits 72
Album Ratings 3445
Objectivity 71%
Last Active 12-09-19 5:48 am
Joined 08-27-09
Review Comments 26,876
| High on Fire
Attempting to rank the LPs from one of the best heavy metal bands ever. They get a love around here and everywhere else, yet I still feel like they're underrated. The perfect blend of Motorhead energy, riffs spawned from Hell (meaning, Slayer and Sabbath) and just the right amount of campy metal mythological grandeur. Fuck these guys rule. They don't have a bad or even mediocre album so this is gonna be tough. Hope y'all have enough hooch and smoke for the dystopian present. | | 1 |  | High on Fire
De Vermis Mysteriis
First Ballou produced album and the best. After the production on Snakes was somewhat botched, they made the perfect pivot in bringing in Kurt Ballou to man the boards. Not only did he perfectly capture the ideal balance between stoned hazy fuzz and muscular metal that it always seemed was just out of reach for these guys, this set of songs is their most varied and strongest composition-wise. One of the best metal albums of the 2010s. | | 2 |  | High on Fire
Blessed Black Wings
Probably what most people would say is their "classic", I feel like this one really put them on the map. Maybe because it was the album that put them on the radar for me back in 2005... but either way, this was HoF at their most lethal in terms of pure muscular thrashy biker metal with a thick film of smoke residue from the devil's lettuce. Riffs on riffs on riffs and a madman performance from Pike on guitar and vocals. | | 3 |  | High on Fire
Death Is This Communion
This one was a grower for me, but once my brain wormed its way through the murky depths of the hazy production and song craft, I really "got it." Some of their best, most epic songs are here, and this one feels more like a journey than any of their others save Vermis. | | 4 |  | High on Fire
Surrounded By Thieves
Just pure unadulterated adrenaline with a heavy dose of THC. If I want to headbang and reach my most primal, metal meathead self, this is the High on Fire record I put on. | | 5 |  | High on Fire
Electric Messiah
Uh it's a concept album about fucking LEMMY. And it shreds to a mindbending level. Another grower, but the riffs tattoo themselves on your skull with a few extra jams. | | 6 |  | High on Fire
Luminiferous
Luminferous seems like it's all speed, or "High on Fire by numbers" with a passing listen, but dude it fucking rocks. Pike's subtle command of melody here is superb, and of course the riffs and solos will melt your face. | | 7 |  | High on Fire
Art of Self-Defense
The production here is a bit too murky, even for these guys. But if you really find your inner riff, your meditative outhouse, the place where you do your best thinking, there is plenty of metal here to satisfy. Music to take a shit to. | | 8 |  | High on Fire
Snakes For The Divine
The opening title track is one of their absolute best songs, and so is Bastard Samurai. The rest is still fist pumping High on Fire, but overall the dry yet brickwalled production makes this less engaging than the rest as a full album listen. Still kicks ass m/ | |
Inveigh
03.23.20 | drunk and stoned let's jam | unclereich
03.23.20 | matt pike is a legend m/ | Dedes
03.23.20 | My top 3 is completely reversed (3 is 1, 2 is 2, 1 is 3) but my god everything riffs my wee lil bollocks off | Inveigh
03.24.20 | god this band rules m/ | random
03.24.20 | The songs “Hung, Drawn, and Quartered” and “Devilution” are the only reasons I know this band, thanks to Tony Hawk video games. | Inveigh
03.24.20 | random!
perfect random comment, both knowledgeable and completely, well, random m/ | random
03.24.20 | Ah, well, thank you!
| Demon of the Fall
03.24.20 | Haven’t heard 7 but the ranking is absolutely perfect as far as I can tell. Great band, great list. m/ | unclereich
03.25.20 | No feature? | Inveigh
03.26.20 | thank you unclereich, i agree should have been featured
but also re-reading this i was definitely drunk and stoned when i wrote it | unclereich
03.26.20 | when are u not |
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