High On Fire - Snakes For The Divine

High On Fire
Snakes For The Divine
2010 E1 Music

High On Fire (or HoF, as I’ll refer to them throughout this review) have been one of the most consistent(ly awesome) bands of the 2000s, by churning out a thrash-meets-Sabbath-meets-Motorhead style of metal that has firm roots in the 80s, yet sounds more raw and vital than most modern metal. Their last release, Death Is This Communion, kicked up the speed and experimentalism a bit, but the band didn’t stray too far from their signature sound. I’m pleased to report that Snakes for the Divine is, again, a High On Fire album through-and-through, and a damn good one, at that.

Usually known for their downtuned, sludgy riffing, HoF kick off the new album with a surprisingly Maiden-esque guitar lick, something usually reserved for Matt Pike’s frantic soloing style. This isn’t to say that this opening title track lacks any heavy riffing; as soon as the full band kicks in, this is unmistakably a HoF tune, and a great opener for the album. The lead bass riffing during the choruses brings to mind Cliff Burton’s work on Kill ‘Em All, and that’s certainly a plus. At 8:24, this is an epic opener, but one that never gets boring.

Early leaks of the album had a lot of message boards up-in-arms over the production of the album, but I gotta say, I don’t think any of the complaints were warranted (although the production on the actual album release is much clearer and less overly-compressed than the leaks). HoF were never known for their great production prior to DitC, but the production on that release was clean, yet still very heavy, and that’s the case with Snakes.

“Frost Hammer,” the second track and first single/video, starts off like an oldschool HoF tune, but has a Mastodon-ish breakdown in the middle with a lot of vocal harmonies. It’s not as scary as it sounds, trust me, it works. The “Frost Ham-mer!” breakdown near the end brings a total metal anthem feel to the track, and the solo, of course, rips. “Bastard Samurai” opens with what sound like synths (!), but again, they are just there as an intro before the full band settles on a MASSIVE groove about a minute into the track. The verses are a lot quieter than standard HoF fare, which is a nice refresher, and makes the heavier parts that much more effective. Probably the heaviest HoF song to date, this is another winner.

“Ghost Neck,” partially based on the trials of drummer Des Kensel and his spinal fusion surgery (using a piece of cadaver bone as part of the surgery), opens with a series of low-end, legato riffing that creates a hypnotic effect. This song is one of the thrashiest on the record, bringing to mind early Exodus in the verses, with some awesome riffing in the bridges. So far, this is on pace to be a better record than DitC, which I was certainly NOT expecting.

Instrumental “The Path” serves as a breather from the thrashy onslaught, and gives us some nice, tasteful lead playing by Matt Pike for 1:20, before “Fire, Flood & Plague” kicks in. Another epic thrasher, the album has yet to produce a sub-par, or even forgettable, track.

“How Dark We Pray” is a slower, Sabbath-ish number that certainly brings to mind Tony Iommi with the lead guitar intro, and is one of the more melodic tracks on the whole album. Moody-yet-heavy, this is a more subdued HoF than we’re used to, but again, not boring or disappointing in the least.

The album concludes with the awesomely-titled “Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter,” (because, really, what is more metal than fire spitting? Oh, right, fire spitting HOLY flames…) and at 4:17, it’s the shortest proper track on the album. It ends things on a brisk note, as it’s mid-paced and fairly straightforward, but it’s almost as if the band ended with a more standard HoF track as if to say, “We’re still High on Fire, we’re not getting too weird on you.” Unlike, say, Mastodon, who ended Crack the Skye with one of their longest, most experimental tracks ever (“The Last Baron,”) HoF aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, just expand it and make it a little more diverse.

And I’m MORE than fine with that, as long as they keep releasing albums that are THIS good. Is it better than DitC? I’m still torn, but it’s certainly AS good, and for a band to keep releasing albums as good as the last one, is no easy feat. I’m happy to say that HoF have definitely done that here.

A-

Matt Steele

People Play Games #2: M.C. Kids

Welcome back to “People Play Games”, where we take a closer look at subgenres of old video games. In our first installment, we discussed John Elway’s Quarterback and awful sports games that signed superstar athletes to be their pitchmen. Today, we’ll talk about video games with ridiculous commercial sponsorship through the prism of M.C. Kids, a 1992 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) release.

You see, it wasn’t enough for McDonald’s that every child emerges from the womb crying for a Happy Meal. Though already unavoidable and ubiquitous, McDonald’s decided to enter into the video game market, trying to gain headway into that elusive “children who play video games but are ambivalent towards McDonald’s” demographic. To do this, they tapped Virgin Interactive, a company best known for its chain of record stores and its flamboyantly rich thrill seeking chairman.

The result was M.C. Kids, a McDonald’s-themed game where two children team up to save Ronald McDonald’s house, or something. I’ll let Wikipedia explain:

“The game is loosely based on the McDonald’s fast-food franchise and features two teenagers that venture into the McDonald’s fantasy world ‘McDonaldland’ in order to return Ronald McDonald’s magical bag, which has been stolen by the Hamburglar.”

“Loosely based” might be a tepid choice of words considering that the plot revolves around the misdeeds of the Hamburglar. Nonetheless, I was excited to jump right into M.C. Kids after reading that description, and I held out hope that the Grimace would also make an appearance.

Sadly, reading the Wikipedia plot description and watching the opening extrapolation were about as much fun as I had playing M.C. Kids. You control a wide-eyed, McDonald’s-loving full-blooded American through various forest levels, avoiding the attacks of rambunctious raccoons and spiders. Each level plays like a warmed-over Super Mario Bros. 3, if you subtract the ingenuity and charm of that game by 100%. There was an objective of some kind in each level (something having to do with Ronald’s “magical bag”), but I was successfully able to run as fast as I could through the entire stage without stopping every time. Fun!

Though I would have loved to have seen the Hamburglar, my patience quickly wore thin and I had to turn the fucking thing off. I’d imagine the majority of America’s children did much the same eighteen years ago. Unfortunately, the awfulness of the game and the shamelessness of its message didn’t stop other food and drink companies from releasing various games for the NES, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in the early 90s. 7-Up (Cool Spot, that red dot with sunglasses that no one remembers), Domino’s (Yo! Noid) and Cheetos (Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest) all released video games hoping that kids would be so dumb that they’d play these games and then immediately purchase the products they hawked. Judging by the dearth of video games based on Papa John’s or Diet Coke these days, I’d like to think we were smart enough to think for ourselves. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m dying for a McFlurry.

John Lacey

The Whigs - In The Dark

The Whigs
In The Dark
2010 ATO

Much has been made of the Whigs’ recent tour with garage pop darlings Kings of Leon, and their subsequent shift in style evident on their new third full-length record, In The Dark. Whether intentional or not (and you’d have to think it is), In The Dark is more polished and more deliberate than either of its predecessors.

The first two Whigs albums, Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip (2005) and Mission Control (2008), featured repeated three-and-a-half minute bursts of raw energy. Things are much more methodical and much less frenetic on In The Dark. Those first albums were scintillating but also charming; the rambunctious and exciting nature of the band created a youthful aura around those records that made the music even more powerful. That feeling is largely absent on their new album, replaced by a toned-down pop sensibility that is different from their earlier material, but not entirely without merit.

The album starts off fairly strongly. “Black Lotus” is a solid indie-pop track, and the heavily Kings of Leon-influenced “Kill Me Carolyne” is a nice listen. Things quickly begin to drag, however, beginning with “Someone’s Daughter” and “So Lonely”. What follows are quick and unspectacular rock songs, each with similar structures and multiple choruses, none making an impression.

The slower, more deliberate style works in some places, such as in the opening riff and chorus of “I Don’t Even Care About The One I Love” and the soaring vocals in “I Am For Real”. Unfortunately, nearly all of the songs suffer from sounding so similar to one another; themes and melodies are consistently repeated from track to track. Even when something tickles the ear, it still sounds like a variant of something else you’ve already heard in another song.

The upsetting thing about In The Dark and the Whigs in general is that they had already crafted their own sound and mystique. They really didn’t need to abandon it to try and mold themselves to become a “Kings of Leon-type band”. There are enough good ideas here to hope that even if they continue on this trajectory, they can still release very good records. But I can’t help but feel discouraged that this band that I once saw upstage the Drive-By Truckers in concert has willfully tempered the qualities that made them so great.

C

John Lacey