HIGH ON FIRE - Surrounded By Thieves
June 17, 2002, 22 years ago
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Cool true metal packaging to this sludgestorm of Otis/Eyehategod proportions. The songtitles rule too, helping along with a pat on the rear a bunch of ugly black soot billowers only a mother of a tailpipe could love. The spirit of Motorhead lies buried here somewhere, like a spark biding its time before flaring. That spirit wafts through ex-Sleep legend Matt Pike’s longbeard vocal blubber, as well as Des Kensel’s kidney-punching drum sound, a production specific that dominates these songs, but just barely, all the impossibly low, slow power trio tones allowed to seep through like river rot. Highlights: ‘Nemesis’ and the title track, which features a Cathedral-like swing and vocals that are hilariously tormented but in a fresh new way you’ve never heard. Violent, Melvins-metronomically rhythmic, and lucky for them, a bit of an alternative press critic’s darling.
