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If having your heart ripped out through your eyes, stretched tightly around your head and shoved back in through your ears is your idea of a party, then you’re invited to High on Fire’s next shindig in hell. On Blessed Black Wings, Matt Pike and crew take their neuron-scrambling Motrhead-meets-Clutch-in-Sabbath’s-garage audio assault to unprecedented levels of brutality. The amps are cranked to twelve, and Pike’s vocals are set to “Lemmy,” furiously barking grandiose tales of demons and damnation. “Devilution” establishes the record’s tone, opening with Des Kensel’s tribal-drum melodies — as crucial to High on Fire’s onslaught as Pike’s shredded power chords and vocals. This time out, former Melvins bassist Joe Preston assumes responsibility for giving tracks like “Cometh Down Hessian” and “Sons of Thunder” their gut-rumbling bottom end, while the legendary Steve Albini takes his throne behind the mixing board, perfectly capturing High on Fire’s jaw-dropping intensity.
