Live Review: High on Fire etc.

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Vic du Monte's Idiot Prayer (USA) / Alabama Thunderpussy (USA) / High on Fire (USA)

04/08/05
Hof Ter Lo, Antwerpen

Sons of Thunder - Louder Than Everyone Else.

There were five bands playing that night, but I missed opening band Winnebago Deal and left after High on Fire (sleep deprivation and all that), so I missed Brant Bjork & the Bros (but you can find some Brant Bjork-reviews elsewhere on this website)

Face it: over here, Vic du Monte's Idiot Prayer is mainly known as "the band with the Kyuss guy." You might raise an eyebrow there, since Vic (real name: Chris Cockrell) didn't appear on any of the four available albums, but he fulfilled bass duties before Nick Oliveri joined the band. I guess that's also why the band's brand new album - Prey for the City- was recently released by Brant Bjork's Duna Records and Alfredo Hernandez (second Kyuss drummer) joined the band for this European tour. If you were expecting desert rock (whether it be the monolithic pounding of the mother band, or the laidback variant of Brant & the Bros), you were wrong, because the moment these guys stepped on stage in their fancy suits and big retro-looking guitars, you knew you'd get something else. And indeed, the band went for a bare-boned rock 'n' roll-approach that was more indebted to "60's garage-rock-with-nagging-organ" than overwhelming stoner grooves. Initially, it was a bit of a weird sensation, because my mind was already set on the apocalyptic thunderstorm that High on Fire would undoubtedly conjure up, but a few songs into their set, the band's sound finally clicked. They didn't waste any time on superfluous banter, jamming or other nonsense and delivered catchy chunks of garage muscle that situated itself between the ghoul-rock of the Fleshtones (but with a nastier edge to it) and the Fuzztones, and the straightforward, jangling sounds of The Lyres and The Nomads. Nothing new, nothing spectacular, but propelled by the right energy, wrapped up in good musicianship and topped off with a dash of street-wise menace. Who's gonna buy me that album?

Alabama Thunderpussy. The name in itself is already enough to make most people shudder, but they're definitely more than the umpteenth trailer park shock-rock band. As you could anticipate, they play a kind of Southern rock (even though they're from Richmond, Virginia, and not from Alabama), albeit a very heavy interpretation of it. While they share the lyrical concerns, artwork and look of several other Southern-fried boogie acts, they sure as hell ain't the kind of the band that The Black Crowes or The Drive-By Truckers would wanna have as a support act. There's certainly a groovy, retro-ingredient in their music, but most of all, they're a metal band, combining elements of stoner-rock, thrash and even doom, making them sound closer to, for instance, Corrosion of Conformity or Orange Goblin than a mere revivalist band. Also, since the coming of new vocalist Johnny Weills - who jumped aboard before the recording of 2004 album Fulton Hill - the band has even become heavier, as Weills' considerable lung capacity allows him to croon like a classic rocker, scream like a hardcore maniac and roar like a true Metal Man. At times, when he switched from one style to the next, he even reminded me a bit of Phil Anselmo. The band delivered a remarkably energetic set, which was appreciated by the crowd. Despite some technical difficulties (one of the guitar players was almost inaudible for most of their concert) and a venue that was way too big, ATP crushed on with force and determination. If you're not familiar with their material, some of the songs come off as a bit too stretched out and samey, but the raucous attitude and tough playing always ensure a sympathetic response.

I may not be the world's expert on heavy music, but I've tastes some of the more extreme genres out there, and after careful consideration, I can safely say that High on Fire are probably the heaviest band on the planet. Granted, some bands are more hectic, aggressive and punishing (you got your Dillinger Escape Plans and your Converges, etc), but no one brings the Heavy like High on Fire - the band that put the "power" back in "power-trio." Front man Matt Pike has been something of an unheralded cult legend since he was in seminal stoner/metal band Sleep, and with the more straightforward High on Fire, which he formed in the late 90's, this has only increased. The band's third album - Blessed Black Wings - was released a few months ago and already proved a kind of breakthrough album, as even non-oriented metal publications have been singing its praise. And God, is it metal. A recurring description is "Slayer-meets-Motörhead," and for once, it makes sense, even though the band is much more than that. The band first two albums already offered monumentally crushing songs that combined the insane grumble of the Melvins with the riff-fests of Black Sabbath and the lethal fierceness of Motörhead, but on Blessed Black Wings, the elements of doom are shifted into more of a thrash-direction, with a slightly faster pace and more brutality. It's incredible that the wall of sound that's pummelling you against the wall is created by only three people. Des Kensel's bass drum and floor tom are used to create a rumbling, almost tribal atmosphere that evokes visions of prehistoric battles, blood and thunder, while Joe Preston's bass and Pike's guitar ceaselessly try to outdo each other in the low end-department. Whilst Preston is the ever-stoic guy (watch those hands, though!), Pike is the true rock 'n 'roll animal, bashing those strings as if they're a club he'll beat you to death with, yelling coarse lines (saying that he sounds like Lemmy with a lung infection is an understatement) while he's standing with his foot on the monitor and banging his head to his own titanic volume. He used two amps and three cabinets, which created such a monstrous volume level that it wasn't even necessary to amplify it through the P.A.-system. While there's hardly any time for restraint on High on Fire's albums (even though there are some acoustic bits on the latest one), the live shows are marathons of punishing force. Even though they played songs from all three albums, the stress was understandably on Blessed Black Wings. Kensel's drum assault prepared the audience for lead-off track "Devilution," and from then onwards, the intensity never let up." The gargantuan pounding of "The Face of Oblivion" lived up to the incredible album version, "Cometh Down Hessian" raged with furious determination, the title track's Venom-tribute (that's how it sounds anyway) was turned into a battlefield doom-fest of insane proportions and after all the mayhem, the band finished the set with a relentless "Speedwolf" from Surrounded by Thieves. Because of the insane volume (at least, that's what I reckon it was), Pike's playing seemed a bit sloppy sometimes (I think he only heard his own guitar), but the force of the music is so damn overpowering that you can only react from the gut - and that's why I'll always have more of a soft spot for this band than, say, Mastodon. The latter might even have more impressive technical chops and offer a stronger synthesis of the past and the present, but like them, High on Fire has revitalised contemporary metal and raised the bar for the contenders.