High on Fire was traveling at maximum altitude after winning a Grammy for its 2018 album. electric messiah. Then shit hit the proverbial fan.
Frontman Matt Pike's battle with diabetes and surgery to partially amputate a toe forced the long-running sludge metal group to halt activities and cancel tour dates. And then drummer Des Kensel left the band. Then the pandemic closed everything.
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It was during the first weeks of lockdown that the seeds for High on Fire's next album were planted. Drummer Coady Willis (Big Business, Melvins) stepped in to complete the new version of the power trio, a move that the band's go-to producer, Kurt Ballou, described as revitalizing.
To these ears, the band's new album, the storm is comingit's even better than electric messiah and the strongest and most varied High on Fire album since Snakes for the Divine. The overwhelmingly positive critical response to the album tends to support that assumption, as does the apparent gratification of the members of High on Fire themselves.
Strong consequences I sat down with the three (Matt Pike, bassist Jeff Matz, and new drummer Coady Willis) via Zoom to discuss the making of the storm is coming ahead of their spring U.S. tour, which kicks off May 4 in Orlando, Florida (tickets available here).
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