Surrounded by Thieves

Coming out of Oakland, Calif., High on Fire is the brainchild of guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike, who helmed the beloved stoner/doom metal group Sleep throughout the \'90s. Building and expanding on that ferocious sound, High on Fire (with drummer Des Kensel and bassist George Rice) hit the scene in \'98. The band released its debut album, *The Art of Self Defense*, two years later. *Surrounded by Thieves* appeared in 2002, after the group signed with Relapse Records; it was co-produced by Billy Anderson, known for his work with Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and Eyehategod, among many others. Devastatingly heavy and unapologetically dark, this is the perfect soundtrack for a session of Genghis Khan–style pillaging and/or marathon first-person-shooter videogame sessions. It\'s a standout in High on Fire\'s consistently impressive discography. Don\'t miss \"The Yeti,\" \"Hung, Drawn and Quartered,\" or the Unsane-esque opener \"Eyes and Teeth.\"

With a heavy-hoofed gallop, the gargantuan High on Fire bash out towering dimensions of sound on the highly-anticipated Surrounded by Thieves. Burning down the pillars of time with quadrupled intensity, High on Fire inject tonal infectiousness as the mammoth, plaster-cracking guitar and throaty war cries of founding member Matt Pike (Sleep) interlock with elephantine bass grooves and cannon-like percussion, creating the last word in paralysis by sheer volume.

In his 1964 book Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "the medium is the message." As advances in technology ...

He was stoner before stoner was cool (for the second time) with Sleep, and with High On Fire, he adds a speedy dimension, yet retains that doomsaying guitar tone that's thicker than a sumo wrestler's ankles, showing that going somewhere fast beats going nowhere slow more often than not.