High on Fire – Blessed Black Wings

Artist: High on Fire
Album: Blessed Black Wings
Released: 2005
Genre: Stoner Metal / Sludge Metal / Doom Metal
Label: Relapse Records
Producer: Steve Albini

About the Album:
Blessed Black Wings is High on Fire’s third studio album and one of the records that pushed the band from underground doom-metal favorite into a much wider metal audience. The album combines Matt Pike’s massive guitar tone with faster, almost Motörhead-like momentum, especially on tracks like “Devilution,” “Cometh Down Hessian,” and “Blessed Black Wings.” Steve Albini’s production kept the record raw and physical rather than overly polished.

Members:
Matt Pike – guitar, vocals
Joe Preston – bass
Des Kensel – drums
Steve Albini – producer, engineer

Cultural Facts:

• Matt Pike formed High on Fire after the original breakup of Sleep, the hugely influential doom band behind Holy Mountain and Dopesmoker. High on Fire became the heavier, faster outlet for his playing.
• Bassist Joe Preston had already played with several major underground heavy bands, including Melvins and Thrones, before joining High on Fire for this album.
• Blessed Black Wings was recorded with Steve Albini, whose credits include Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies, Neurosis and countless underground records. His approach favored capturing the actual sound of the band in the room with minimal studio gloss.
• The title track was inspired partly by the story and imagery surrounding World War II fighter pilots, with Pike mixing historical warfare imagery into the band’s usual fantasy and apocalyptic themes.
• Joe Preston left High on Fire not long after the album’s release, making Blessed Black Wings the only full-length High on Fire studio album to feature him on bass.
• Matt Pike’s extremely loud live rigs and heavily driven tube amps became a defining part of High on Fire’s reputation; the guitar sound on this record helped cement him as one of modern doom and stoner metal’s most recognizable players.

Notable Tracks: “Devilution,” “The Face of Oblivion,” “Brother in the Wind,” “Cometh Down Hessian,” “Blessed Black Wings,” “Sons of Thunder”