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Review: High on Fire/Enslaved, SWX
“Fuck Christianity!” bellows Grutle Kjellson like an angry, proper-job Norwegian black metal warrior. Then his even more hulking and hairy bandmate Ivar Bjørnson shoots him an expression of mock-disapproval. “Too much?” Kjellson apologises, politely.
That recent tour with Opeth certainly seems to have had an effect on Enslaved in general and Kjellsson in particular, who has become increasingly Mikael Akerfeldt droll in contrast to the band’s dense, heavy progressive music. The Enslaved raiding party has also been posting Spotify playlists and snaps of its vinyl booty during this trek, which proves instructive when it comes to deconstructing their hugely impressive music. Modern extreme and progressive metal rubs shoulders with classic English prog (Yes, Floyd, Genesis, Soft Machine…even Canterbury scene obscurities Egg), the outcome of this melting pot of influences becoming apparent during all 11 minutes of Storm Son – arguably the quintessential Enslaved song, being complex, aggressive, imaginative and unfailingly melodic. Truly, these guys are the King Crimson of black metal.
is needed now More than ever
Two other folklore-driven songs from the (Norwegian) Grammy winning current E album get an airing – including Sacred Horse, accompanied, fabulously, by a projection of, um, a sacred horse. But rather than serving up the usual crowd favourites this time, they dig deeper into the catalogue for a fans’ selection of rarely aired material. Havenless from Below the Lights is a particular treat, being built around a huge Tyr-style chant with a titanic riff, while 1994’s Frost album is revisited for Isöders Dronning and a stirring Jotunblod.
It helps that they’re on top form, with the two newest recruits more than pulling their weight. The reservoir of Norwegian black metal keyboard players with strong, distinctive, sonorous singing voices to act as a counterpoint to Kjellson’s growls must be a fairly shallow one, but Håkon Vinje has settled in to this key role admirably.
They get through drummers like a certain fictional act that dare not speak its name, but Iver Sandøy, the fifth incumbent of the Enslaved drum stool, has lost no time in finding his way around those complex rhythms and plays like he’s been in the band for years.
Follow that. In terms of musical dexterity, Oakland’s High on Fire don’t stand a chance. Indeed the running order of this co-headlining show seems rather topsy-turvy. That said, High on Fire operate in a completely different metal arena to Enslaved, which makes for a refreshing change from bills packed with bands who all sound the same (yes, those death metal all-dayers, we’re looking at you).
This reviewer has long since given up trying to fathom the mysterious process by which some metal acts and/or sub-genres become cool among pretentious hipster critics, but cult stoners Sleep achieved just this by playing Sabbath riffs veeery veeery slowly for hours on end. Their agreeable pothead Dopesmoker album was even compared to a Mark Rothko painting (or, more precisely, “a Mark Rothko painting hitting you over the head with a bag of hammers”) by the New York Times. Guitarist Matt Pike brings that accumulated cred capital to his parallel band High on Fire, who do the stoner thing at a speed metal pace. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that Pike plays more notes in five minutes with High on Fire than he does in hours at a Sleep show.
You know that mandatory scene in every American cabin-in-the-woods flick where the glossy big city teens get lost on the way to their par-tay in the wilderness? They pull up at a gas station to seek directions, only to be made uncomfortable by the sinister, unkempt and tattooed locals who may or may not chop them into little bits later in the movie. High on Fire are those guys. It’s hard not to think of latterday Motorhead as the gnarly trio pummel their way through this relentless, ear-splittingly loud, hard rockin’ set. No surprise, then, to find that new album Electric Messiah pays homage to His Late Lemship.
When that great music critic Homer Simpson described Grand Funk’s Mark Farner as being “wild and shirtless”, he might as well have been describing Pike, whose heavily inked upper torso is rarely photographed clothed. What Pike perhaps doesn’t get enough credit for is his frantic, defiantly old-school guitar work, which is as much a defining feature of High On Fire’s sound as his paint-stripping vocals. There’s little showmanship on display here, although The Black Plot is accompanied by that terrific animated video. By the time they reach Snakes for the Divine, Pike is drenched in sweat and resembles a portlier Angus Young – which is kind of appropriate given that the intro guitar figure sounds like it’s lifted from Thunderstruck.
Rather brilliantly given the band’s backwoods demeanour, they use Duelling Banjos as an outro tape, sending the metal hordes out into the night clutching their bottoms nervously.
All photos by Mike Evans
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