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It's Sunday night (at time of writing) & I've decided to write this review after two days of letting it sink in. Travelling from my new house in PA where we just moved into the Sunday before the show, this was to be my last NYC concert for a bit, since i'm closer to Philadelphia. Right of the bat, this gig is my 2nd favorite HoF gig I've been to, my favorite still being the first time I caught them, in a tiny now-defunct Knitting Factory to about 30 people in Oct. of 2002. Bonus: Matt said they were recording the night's riffs, soprobably soon in 2013 there will be a live dvd or cd of the damn show I was front row at. Well, for the first four songs. More on that later; onto the openers, mighty Lo-pan. Coming from PA, we did not leave on time for this show and finally arrived down at the Bowery Ballroom around 8:20, missing I would say the first 4/5 songs from lo panm depending on exactly when they started and what was played. The remaining three or so songs were quite nice though, and the singer in the group really comes across as having powerful pipes live as well as on record. I picked up Salvador a while ago based on good vibes/reviews enjoyed what I heard of their set. From the beginning I found it odd that they booked this tour. High On Fire/Goatwhore/Primate/Lo Pan is like booking a tour with Motorhead/Slayer/Primate and Torche. Something stands out, something doesn't quite belong. Way downplaying the satan aspect, upping the beard and beer quotient, they stood their own and watched the bands on stage do their thing. Some people outside were dissing on them, so i had to set them straight by saying they don't belong on this bill, but that don't mean they don't rock. Whatever. Too many haters, man.
Now, the next two bands. These were not the bands I came to see that night, i'll say that. Primate I had never heard of, and was informed that Bill/Mastodon plays guitar in the band, so i thought, hey, cool, a Mastodon dude is here. And then out of nowhere Brent Hinds and his smokin' hot mocha goddess just enter the scene. Brent was a hot mess, and was apparently really there to cheer on his fellow band mate in his side venture offshoot super-group. Was nice to see. I'll say that their set was the set I enjoyed least. And i only caught 15-20 minutes of Lo Pan. I don't know what kind of metal that could be described as, the vocals were annoying, and oddly, they said later they were playing another show at saint vitus bar starting @ 11:59 with all Black Flag covers for hardcore night. Nice to be so hungry to destroy, but this wasn't my type of destruction music.
Third up were Goatwhore, who of what I have heard I didn't dislike on the whole. They played what they said were a few older songs, and those turned out to be more my speed, nice chugga chugga riffing, real easy to bang to, etc. I'm an outsider to the black metal scene, I will say that. I mean I own Bathory's S/T and 400 other cds, if you want to put it into Traditional Black Metal terms ;0 But I bought the ticket and stayed and watched the band and banged when I could (when it wasn't too fast).
Right about 5 after eleven, High On Fire took the stage. The full set list went as follows: Serums Of Liao/Frost Hammer/10,000 Years/Devilution/Last/Fertile Green/Speedwolf/Rumors-DII/Fury Whip/Madness Of An Architect/Hung, Drawn & Quartered/Encore: Blood From Zion/Snakes For The Divine. You're not hallucinating: they played (and recorded) THREE tracks from Art... and two beauties from SBT, my personal favorite HoF albums by a mile. About an 80 minute set. I wanted to be (and for the first four songs was) up front, getting battered. I went apeshit for 10,000 years, and after Devilution I had enough of being battered and smashed up against a wall by 400 or so people, and got the hell out of there as soon as Devilution ended. I made my way to the way back where I was able to cut loose without feeling claustrophobic, and there I remained for the rest of their set, where in the midst of all the fury, I most definitely grabbed a strangers jacket and screamed in unison both with both Matt and the jacket-wearer, "They fill our temples with their lieeeeeeeeeeessssssssss!" Really fun atmosphere at the show, everyone just happy for Matt and happy to hear these songs live. I met an Irish brooklynite outside after the chaos, and he said it was his first time seeing the band, and how great they were yadda yadda yadda. I've seriously been saying that for 13 years. Matt's sobriety is still very embryonic, but you can tell already the focus has shifted for the band, now it's not like, let's play these songs and kill these people with riffs, but rather more like let's play these songs tighter and kill people with these riffs. See the difference? ;) It has made his band tighter, and fuck with 6 righteous albums under their belt, they have a lot of awesome tunes to whip out, and I got some of my very favorites, and they recorded them. If this was for a dvd I'm right up front, cant miss me, vitus logo tour shirt on, bang across my chest, smile upon my face, banging furiously to frost hammer and 10000 years.
I think the next record will be miles above anything they've done before, yes, because of the sobriety, it's a hunch. There's something about the way this band channels fury that just decimates universally. It's right in the name. To be High on Fire is to be mused by that gut instinct that tells you to lay down a riff and play it as loud as possible to as many people as possible, live? Oh yes most definitely. This bands needs to be experienced live. This music does, period, but the little bastard offspring of Lemmy and Iommi really is something to behold. If you haven't heard of/seen this band, you're missing something vital. Integral. Primal. Now I'm not exactly unbiased in these opinions; it does say high on fire on my forearm, but there's a renewed fire to this band, and for a band that's been at it for 14 years every year straight like they have, that's nice to see. Go see the tour if you can.
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