CD Review: High On Fire - Spitting Fire Live Vol. 1 and 2

Artist: High On Fire
Album: Spitting Fire Live Vol. 1 and 2
Genre: Stoner Metal
Release Date: 28th June 2013
Label: Century Media

Album Review

HIGH ON FIRE came to the world in 1999 with the fury of their drudging, yet loud release of their self-titled EP. Twelve years and six full length albums later, they haven’t lost their touch or faded; only evolved. The good news about HIGH ON FIRE- for newcomers- is they don’t do the traditional approach of stoner or doom metal; the music is actually far from being slow (most of it, especially in the earlier days when considering albums like ‘Blessed Black Wings,’ is heavy and aggressive leaning towards post metal) and draws more towards modern heavy metal or even NWOBHM. It is raw- not black metal raw- but fuzzy and crushing raw without the drowning elements of doom. Over the recent years they’ve been slowing their music down a bit, but from their second live album- this time a double album- they don’t show it with the setlist.

Usually these days bands will release a live album that is comprised of songs mostly from commercially successful albums and if they release multiple live albums, tend to include the same tracks over and over. ‘Spitting Fire’ does include at least three tracks from the band’s previous live album in 2005 - ‘Speed Wolf’, ‘Hung Drawn And Quartered’ and ‘Blood From Zion’ - and considering their performance they sound pretty much the same as before, but there are lots of other pieces too- many evenly spread throughout each album (there is about 2 tracks from each album). Lots of earlier stuff, lots of heavy, fast stuff- the only really “slow and doomy” tracks on the album is ‘Hung Drawn and Quartered’. The sound quality is where some people may shy away. With the heavy distortion of the guitars and the speed of many of the tracks, the vocals often get lost in the mix which is a huge disappointment. Also the lack of crowed interaction - usually the closest thing is cheering at the beginning or end of the track and the band letting the large group know what the sound is going to be.

It definitely has a live presence, but the audio mixing could have been much better to give equal weight to all the instruments. The good news? There is lots of music to behold between both albums- well over an hour’s worth. And nobody can complain that the group performs live just as they do in the studio.


Tracklist

Line-up

Des Kensel- Drums
Jeff Matz- Bass
Matt Pike- Guitars, Vocals


Website

http://www.highonfire.net/


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 5
Sound: 6
Total: 5.5 / 10