Metal juggernaut High On Fire brings tour to Berkeley's UC Theatre
Monolithic metal power trio and onetime Oakland residents High On Fire return to the Bay Area for this show at the UC Theatre in Berkeley Tuesday night, topping a stellar bill that includes South Bay death-metal merchants Exhumed and corrosive noise-punk band CNTS.
Founded by renowned Sleep guitarist Matt Pike in 1998 after his seminal San Jose stoner-rock outfit imploded over label issues, Oakland-based outfit High On Fire gave Pike a chance to move away from his obsession with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi that he explored with Sleep backed by monster drummer Des Kensel and original bassist George Rice.
Crafting aggressive riff-powered songs that nod equally to the classic-era thrash of Metallica and Slayer and the grinding crunch of Motörhead (Pike's growling vocals bear a distinct resemblance to Lemmy Kilminster's gravelly voice), High On Fire established itself as one of the modern era's true metal powerhouse bands with its recorded material (starting with their Man's Ruin debut The Art of Self Defense in 2000) and ferocious live shows.
While Melvins/Thrones bassist Joe Preston stepped in for the band's acclaimed Steve Albini produced effort Blessed Black Wings in 2005, his departure later that year led to the addition of former Zeke bassist Jeff Matz to establish arguably the band's strongest line-up yet. Since that change, High On Fire has issued a string of celebrated albums including 2007's brutal Death Is This Communion (their first to feature Matz) produced by Jack Endino and four successive gems for E1 Music: the commercial breakthrough Snakes For Divine, the heady, concept-driven effort De Vermis Mysteriis and the focused, critically acclaimed Luminiferous in 2015.
In 2018, the band released its most recent album, the pulverizing effort Electric Messiah. That salvo from High On Fire included the kind of heroic, locomotive metal riffs and intricate drumming from Kensel (who seems to up his technique with each release) that fans expect, paying tribute to Lemmy with the corrosive title track that would earn the band it's first Grammy win in 2019 for Best Metal Performance.
The trio has also gone through some major changes and struggles since then with the departure of founding drummer Kensel later that year and Pike's health issues with diabetes leading to tour cancellations, but the band would return to the stage with Chris Maggio (Wear Your Wounds, formerly with Coliseum and Trap Them) behind the kit for a number of shows.
The COVID-19 pandemic would keep the band off the road for over a year, but in 2021 the band reemerged with a new replacement drummer, powerhouse player Coady Willis of Melvins, Big Business and Murder City Devils fame. Early indications are that his percussive onslaught is helping High on Fire maintain its trademark fury. The new line-up made its recording debut with a cover of "Iron Fist" for a Motörhead tribute compilation.
While there was little news on the High on Fire front beyond a handful of live shows, Pike himself is involved in a couple of creative projects that have come to the light of day. In 2021, Rare Bird Books released Head On A Pike: The Illustrated Lyrics of Matt Pike that collected his lyrical works alongside illustrations by a wide array of artists, including such notables as Arik Roper, Tim Lehi, Brian Mercer, Skinner and Santos, many of whom have provided art for past projects.
The guitarist and singer also released his first proper solo album entitled Pike vs. The Automaton early last year. The product of Pike's isolation during the pandemic, he ended up bashing out the new material in the garage of his new Portland, OR home (he relocated from Oakland a few years ago) with friend and original Lord Dying drummer Jon Reid.
As the experimental album took shape, the guitarist enlisted a host of other friends to collaborate on the effort including Mastodon guitar player Brent Hinds, wife Alyssa Maucere-Pike (Lord Dying/Grigax), hardcore/crust punk guitarist/singer Todd Burdette (His Hero is Gone, Tragedy, Warcry) and High on Fire's Matz playing electric saz (a Turkish instrument) on the album's epic closer "Leaving the Wars of Woe." Pike played several rounds of tour dates to promote the album, playing some of the most intimate venues he's played in years including a local stop at Thee Stork Club in Oakland in June of 2023.
Earlier this year, the new line-up of High on Fire unleashed the group's ninth album, Cometh the Storm. Hailed by critics as another churning slab of metal that finds Pike's crushing riffology pushed to new heights by the maniacal tribal drums of Willis, the effort shows why the trio remains one of heavy music's most consistent acts.
For this return to the UC Theatre in Berkeley Tuesday, High on Fire will be joined by influential South Bay death/grind institution Exhumed. Founded in 1990 by San Jose guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey when he was just 15 years old, the band went through a long gestation period of playing local shows and recording raw demos through the decade with an evolving line-up.
Drawing inspiration from UK and European death metal (Carcass and Entombed) and American grindcore (Repulsion and Terrorizer), Exhumed eventually releasing their proper debut album, the cartoonishly gruesome, over-the-top Gore Metal in 1998. Harvey would later criticize the album as "sloppy," but the recording served as a calling card that helped the band book tours across the U.S. and get invited to European metal festivals, paving the way toward better recorded and more sophisticated follow-up efforts Slaughtercult and Anatomy Is Destiny.
The band would release a collection of early recordings -- Platters of Splatter -- and the covers album Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated, a tongue-in-cheek nodded to Metallica's Garage Days Re-Revisited that featured versions of songs by the Cure, Led Zeppelin and GBH along with a number of early death metal favorites prior to Harvey putting the band on an extended hiatus in 2005. However he would reconvene the band in 2010 and returned to recording, releasing a string of acclaimed albums since issuing its initial comeback album All Guts, No Glory in 2011. Early-era bassist Ross Sewage (who also plays in costumed death/thrash band Ghoul, Ludicra and Impaled) returned to the group in 2015 and has played on all Exhumed releases since, including 2019's Horror.
Opening band CNTS is a boundary-pushing noise-punk group from Los Angeles that features former and current members of Dead Cross, Qui and Retox among others. After singer Matt Cronk was seriously injured in an automobile accident that required multiple surgeries including one that damaged his vocal cords and threated his future as a singer, the band went on an extended hiatus only to re-emerge with their savage sophomore album Thoughts & Prayers last year.
High on Fire with Exhumed and CNTS
Tuesday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m. $25
UC Theatre