‘Luminiferous deserves classic status amongst metal albums. It has all the hallmarks: iconic riffs and energy, a steady balance of diverse styles that still sound distinctly like the band, and excellent replay value.‘
-Broc Nelson
Release date: June 23, 2015 | eOne | Facebook | Instagram | Website
Sometimes these articles have wild timing. With Matt Pike departing Sleep recently, his High on Fire project should become a bigger focus in the future, which, given the quality of their output, should be a reason to rejoice for many. 2015’s Luminiferous is all one would need to hear to realize that this band was more than a mere side hustle all along – it’s a fierce statement of intent, delivered one shirtless stoner sludge romp at a time.
Brandon Essig
My knowledge of High on Fire – the more prolific and now-main project of Sleep’s currently erstwhile vocalist/guitarist Matt Pike – began in high school, as I was searching for more thrash metal to consume. The trio’s 2010 album Snakes for the Divine hit that sweet spot for me with its chunky guitar riffs, alternately sludgy and punky rhythms, and tongue-in-cheek roaring from Pike. Their follow-up, 2012’s De Vermis Mysteriis, was even more enjoyable, thanks to the sterling production job from the Holy Grail of modern metal and punk himself, Converge’s Kurt Ballou. On 2015’s Luminiferous, notably released right after I’d left college and experimented with a certain green substance quite a bit, all those pieces fell into place for what I consider their crowning achievement: all killer, no filler.
While Sleep were content to keep their songs slow, repetitive, and overtly reminiscent of a marijuana-induced haze (ie. sinking into the couch while your eyes glaze over), High on Fire possess a frenzied energy all to themselves. I’ve seen the term ‘biker metal’ thrown around to describe their particular take on sludgy thrash (I swear I’ve seen it on Wikipedia but someone evidently decided that sounded TOO silly), I’d call the music on Luminiferous ‘melodic stoner thrash’. Just check the solo section on “The Sunless Years” and you’ll see what I mean: harmonized guitar layers on itself in exultant ecstasy while drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz add contour and variety to what could have been just a plodding stoner metal track. Pike’s rhythm guitar has a tuneful quality reminiscent of Blood Mountain-era Mastodon (it’s a shame we never got to hear much from the collaboration once touted by Pike and the late Brent Hinds).
On the other side of the coin, “Slave the Hive” picks up the pace with a hardcore punk-style tempo and vocal delivery from Pike, and Kensel has a ton of fun letting loose with intense drum fills and double bass. Pike’s guitar solo blazes past, his fretwork bringing in the bluesy scale he was well-known for in Sleep. The ending solo section of “The Falconist” is wonderful, capping the midtempo number with a grimy, swampy explosion of fireworks from all three members. Ballou’s production expertly allows each player to shine through the mud, something that similar groups of the time, enjoyable as they might have been – The Sword comes to mind – were unable to replicate.
You want slow and melodious Black Sabbath worship? “The Cave” has what you need, its shift into a swaying 12/8 time signature toward the end sounding like pirate metal if it was good. You want pulse-quickening snare-and-cymbal smashing? The title track delivers the goods, with Pike at his most savage both on the mic and the fretboard. By the time the final notes of the epic 9-minute closer “The Lethal Charmer” fade out, one feels as though they’ve gorged on a delicious metal buffet, hearty and succulent and ready for more.
A retrospective for an album as satisfying as this threatens to become a list or, God forbid, a dreaded track-by-track, tedious and pedantic. Suffice to say, Luminiferous cemented and refined High on Fire’s signature style, which would see them winning a Grammy for their next album, 2018’s Electric Messiah. No frills, no fancy arrangements, no wayward ballads: just a focused, bludgeoning onslaught of supremely (there’s no other word for it) enjoyable sludge/thrash metal. As we bemoan Matt Pike’s recent separation from Sleep, we can rejoice in that it hopefully means we get more gems from HoF in the near future.
Broc Nelson
I’ve been a metal fan, more or less, for 28 years. Since first hearing Black Sabbath, the strange allure of metalhead energy has drawn me into its trappings. I’ve had many detours, of course, but the crunch of distorted guitars and wildness of shredding solos, the fast and hammering drums, the low rumble of the bass, and the angst and aggressiveness of metal vocals conjure within me some latent neanderthal urge to become a crusty old metal guy wearing gory graphic t-shirts relieved of their sleeves standing grey-bearded in the back of the show uncrossing his arms to sip his warming PBR and subduing the headbangs of youth into a gentle rhythmic nod.
That feeling conflicts with other facets of my personality, and it is increasingly rare. I’ve heard hundreds of metal bands and hundreds of non-metal bands that make a plethora of sounds that draw my curiosity, but there are a handful of metal bands that excite skullet growth and battle vest dreams. One of those bands, easily a top 5 metal band, is High on Fire, a three-piece lead by Matt Pike, of Sleep fame, that plays like Tony Iommi fronting a sludge band playing speed metal after the third blunt rotation. This is crack-a-cold-one-and-try-to-fight-the-moon metal, cannonball-a-shot-of-Jack-before-you-exhale-the-gravity-bong metal, and zone-out-in-the-riffs-until-you-smell-the-pizza-burning metal rolled into a spliff of the highest disorder.
I have been fortunate enough to see High on Fire three times and once had nearly their entire discography on vinyl. It is difficult to choose which album is my favorite, but Luminiferous makes a hell of a case. I was pretty familiar with High on Fire by the time Luminiferous was released, and as always with a band five albums into their existence, one must ask if the new album compares well against the previous. Apparently, Luminiferous did, because I listened to it a lot in 2015, and 2016, and probably a fair amount after that. It contains two of my favorite High on Fire songs, and revisiting it after a few years, especially a few focused on other genres, is making the idea of a head tattoo sound more appealing.
“The Black Plot” is a classic High on Fire ripper, just a ball of perfect-riff energy threatening you to sit still with a broken beer bottle and the first of my favorite songs. “Carcosa” doesn’t let up and gets bonus points for referencing Ambrose Bierce’s imagined and often borrowed weird fiction city, Carcosa. The song is a great example of Pike’s ability to turn heavy-ass riffs into fat ass grooves. No other stoner band does it this well, and the solo is a brilliant trip through the city’s reality-bending alleyways, Later, “Slave The Hive” ramps the energy up even more with a d-beat crossover thrash rager complete with gang vocals and a guitar solo to soundtrack flames from an open-engine hot rod’s exhaust sparking the flames to burn down a warehouse.
The band’s diversity of sounds and sheer talent that lead them to win a Grammy for their following album, Electric Messiah, are on full display on Luminiferous. “The Falconist” ranks among High on Fire’s most radio-friendly songs in line with latter-era Mastodon, essentially a ballad for them. It is probably my least favorite song on the album, but still manages to fit the flow and flex the band’s songwriting chops. “The Cave” likewise has a certain alt-metal balladry to it. On paper, if you told me High on Fire used some flanger effects and escalated the grunge vibes into one of the catchiest choruses of the band’s entire discography in a verse-chorus-verse structure, I would be skeptical as hell. In practice, this is one of my favorite High on Fire tracks. The way it comes together is like their version of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” that morphs into the gnarliest chorus Melvins never wrote. The solo sounds like a walk in the park for Pike, but it is perfect for the mood and tempo, allowing Pike to play with more emotion than flurry. It works so damn well.
The title track swings right back into full gear, flirting with d-beat again while still feeling thrashy and doomy at once. This is the second album by High on Fire produced by Kurt Ballou, and this kind of song is perfect for Ballou. In fact, their last four albums were produced by Ballou and are easily their best sounding, including the Grammy winner. The closing track, “The Lethal Chamber”, harkens back to earlier High on Fire with its longer format, songs built off of addictive riffs with unexpected turns and perfect solos.
Luminiferous deserves classic status amongst metal albums. It has all the hallmarks: iconic riffs and energy, a steady balance of diverse styles that still sound distinctly like the band, and excellent replay value. I wholeheartedly would recommend any album by High on Fire, but Luminiferous is the best distillation of their variety and chops distilled into one album. It is a great starting point for newcomers and still a classic for longtime fans, and since High on Fire are one of the best metal bands of all time, and this is one of their best albums, it is one of the best metal albums of all time. Now, excuse me, I have to write in Matt Pike for president. I’m tired of all of these politicians in shirt collars, or shirts. Riffs and spliffs for all.
