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With the sun hopefully setting on the navel-gazing, rap-hybrid returns of preening platinum pleasers like Linkin Park and Korn, one begs to ask, where will "nu"metal be forged? Could it be the desert funk-crunch psychedelia of QOTSA or maybe the finger-furious math-metal of Mastodon? This betting man's wager lies with Oakland's High on Fire and their Steve Albini-produced Blessed Black Wings, which confirms what those in the know already knew: There isn't a meaner hard rock band around. Frontman Matt Pike, possessed by a demonic bark that owes Motorhead's Lemmy a royalty or two, attacks his guitar with a grimy virtuosity that recalls the great double/triple axe lineups of British New Wave. Yet in Pike's case, it's a one-man guitar attack augmented by an equally ferocious rhythm section (Des Kensel on drums and Joe Preston on bass). While Pike's lyrics encompass the acrid, smoky, Halls-of-Valhalla terrain of musical antecedents like Iron Maiden and Dio, the real question is, does Blessed pack the blitzkrieg blow required of the great bare-knuckled metal brawlers? Be it the cocaine-fueled Beelzebub-bop of Blessed's title track or the demonic mercenary swagger of "Cometh Down Hessian," the proof pools within Pike's bloody licks.
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