Revolver have teamed with High on Fire for an exclusive vinyl colorway of Cometh the Storm — limited to 300. Order yours now.
Helmed by guitarist-growler Matt Pike (also of Sleep fame), High on Fire have been one of the most consistently great bands in the heavy-music world for nearly 25 years now.
With album covers that pull you into their mythical worlds, and LP run-times that frequently approach the hour mark, High on Fire aren't exactly a singles artist. That said, the group's eight knockout sludge-metal opuses contain oodles of killer tracks, and we asked our readers to pick the very best.
See the top five vote-getters ranked accordingly below.
5. "Rumors of War"
A big part of High on Fire's appeal come from the way they swing back and forth between rollicking sludge rippers and red-eyed stoner lurches. However, rarely do they sound as amped-up and ready for battle as they do on "Rumors of War."
Coming in under three minutes (brief for HOF), the Death Is This Communion standout barrels forward with a Motörhead charge. It's heavy, lashing, mean — but in its chorus, Pike contorts his gravely croak into its most tuneful form. Still scraggly as hell, but perfect for chanting along with.
4. "King of Days"
On the cover of High on Fire's De Vermis Mysteriis, a haggard, Jesus-like figure exhales mystic smoke while giant beams of black light stream from his eyes. "King of Days" sounds like what we imagine that guy is feeling during that batshit experience.
Each one of Pike's chiming fuzz blasts hits like a patch of sky getting ripped open, and Jeff Matz's basslines climb vine-like up the spires of luminous energy that shine through the clouds. It's a fucking epic song.
3. "10,000 Years"
High on Fire's 2000 debut, The Art of Self Defense, still wore the low-and-slow scent of Pike's other band, Sleep. "10,000 Years," in particular, is an eight-minute trip that begins with an utterly dank stoner-metal riff that they luxuriate in for half the song.
However, by the end, the sturdy chord progression evaporates into a slipstream of psychedelic noodling, a section that's more suited for rolling necks in a state of otherworldly bliss than banging heads.
2. "Fury Whip"
"Fury Whip" is one of those songs that sounds exactly like its title. It's furious. It whips. It's a whip... of fury!
By this point in their career, HOF had mastered Pike's knack for taking riffs that would certainly sound great in a long, drawn-out stoner-metal song, but playing them at twice the speed. The main chord progression has a Sabbathian simplicity to it, but he's doling it out with the wrathful stabs of a mad hornet's stinger.
1. "Snakes for the Divine"
This song felt like an instant classic the moment it dropped, and High on Fire fans still feel that way today. The title track from their 2010 opus just has everything you could ever want out of a HOF song — and then some.
The hammer-on-heavy intro is like a NWOBHM fake-out, 'cause from there the fuzz kicks on like a gas explosion, the drums start brawling, the bass is roiling and Pike comes roaring in like a delirious mountain man who hasn't seen civilization in decades.
It's a fucking bonkers song, and the fans — the ones who voted in this poll, at least — think it's High on Fire's greatest song.
