High on Fire

On my "If I love..." thread...

Picked up their latest, Snakes for the Divine and it's been kicking my butt all morning. I've been on the fence with these guys for awhile now because of the vocals and slow to get anything new, but I think it's finally starting to click. Seeing them live probably helped too.

PS if any mods want to move this topic out of the "dead zone", feel free.

They are an awesome band like.
Matt Pike is as awesome guitarist

The only one I have is Snakes - good album! A little worried about checking out their other albums with the comments about his vocals on the other albums....

thejokeriv wrote:

The only one I have is Snakes - good album! A little worried about checking out their other albums with the comments about his vocals on the other albums....

His vocals on the other albums are no different than Snakes, he sounds basically the same throughout.

If you can handle Lemmy, you can handle Matt Pike...they sound like twins.

detuned wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

The only one I have is Snakes - good album! A little worried about checking out their other albums with the comments about his vocals on the other albums....

His vocals on the other albums are no different than Snakes, he sounds basically the same throughout.

If you can handle Lemmy, you can handle Matt Pike...they sound like twins.

O cool - I will check them out. Lemmy rules!!!!!

Quote :

If you can handle Lemmy, you can handle Matt Pike...they sound like twins.

I'd disagree with that. I think Matt is way more harsh than Lemmy.

I've gotten accustomed to Matt's vocals after repeated listening, but it took me awhile. While I've been a fan of Motorhead since high school, I don't recall ever having to "get used to" Lemmy's vocals. They've always worked fine for me since the first note I heard.

On another topic, do the HoF albums seem poorly produced? They all seem sorta muddy to me and the vocals are buried. It seems like I always have to crank the albums to really hear 'em.

Matt's vocal delivery is the same as Lemmy's. That don't-give-a-smurf poo attitude but Matt is defo more harsh that Lemmy.

The first couple of HoF albums (The Art of Self Defense and Surrounded by Thieves) are very bassy and "badly" produced because it's stoner metal. I think they were going for that retro 70's production.

Nowadays, their production is much better but not so much that it sounds overly produced or clean. Their newer albums still have the harshness and rawness but still have clarity in the sound and delivery.

Quote :

Matt's vocal delivery is the same as Lemmy's. That don't-give-a-smurf poo attitude but Matt is defo more harsh that Lemmy.

That makes a little more sense. The attitude is the same even if the end product is different.

Quote :

The first couple of HoF albums (The Art of Self Defense and Surrounded by Thieves) are very bassy and "badly" produced because it's stoner metal. I think they were going for that retro 70's production.

That's what I was questioning. I couldn't tell if the albums were done that way on purpose for effect or if it was just poor production. Or maybe a little bit of each. Snakes for the Divine sounds a little better. I still crank it though.

The only album I don't like the production on is "Surrounded By Thieves", that one sounds terrible (I re-EQ'd it and then burnt that version to listen to).

I love the sound of the debut, Pike wasn't really a comfortable singer yet, so he said the vocals were buried on purpose on that album. However, I think it's an absolute classic of it's type and Pike's guitar sound is otherworldly.

The production on Blessed Black Wings is real raw and ballsy sounding...Death is a little more polished...Snakes splits the difference down the middle.

*re Lemmy* - I was referring more to Lemmy's attitude and rhythmic delivery than the actual "sound" of his voice. It works for High On Fire, the vocals are as raw and menacing as the music.