World renowned hard rock band HIGH ON FIRE will release its new studio album De Vermis Mysteriis on April 3 via eOne Music.
Recorded in Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios with producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, the 10 song effort — touted as “direct, eye-opening and powerfully supernatural” — is the band’s sixth studio recording and the follow up to 2010’s Snakes for the Divine which debuted at #62 on the Billboard Top 200 and has been called “wonderful” by The New York Times and “an exhilarating rush” by The Chicago Tribune.
De Vermis Mysteriis (or “Mysteries of the Worm”) takes its title from a fictional grimoire created by Psycho author Robert Bloch and incorporated by H. P. Lovecraft into the lore of the Cthulhu Mythos (Lovecraft mentioned De Vermis Mysteriis as one of the books that “repeat the most hellish secrets learnt by early man”). The album carries a deeply mystical undercurrent, incorporating fantastical themes and lyrics detailing, among other things, time travel, a serum called liao that is made out of a black lotus and “a Jesus twin who can see the past through his ancestors’ eyes.” And that’s just scratching the surface!
Musically, De Vermis Mysteriis is absolutely explosive, showcasing the California power trio’s thundering roar and expanded harmonic and rhythmic palettes while the songs move confidently through multiple riffs and movements. HIGH ON FIRE construct tough, burly stoner metal that is at once devastatingly epic and mercilessly metallic as superstar guitaristMatt Pike‘s sizzling ax and avenging-angel riffs fuse with Des Kensel‘s double-kick-drum onslaught and Jeff Matz‘s concrete crushing, Burton-esque bass guitar. Over the course of forty-five minutes, HIGH ON FIRE have created an amalgamation of fantastical lyrical ideas and brute force musicianship anchored in an endlessly captivating, punkishly frantic sound. Simply put, the band generates awesome on demand and has a virtual chokehold on monolithic-sounding, masterfully crafted epic music. HIGH ON FIRE is a savage bull in the china shop of modern metal.
When asked for comment on De Vermis Mysteriis, Pike somewhat cryptically replied, “Prepare for your dark journey.”
The track listing for HIGH ON FIRE‘s De Vermis Mysteriis is as follows:
1.) Serums of Liao
2.) Bloody Knuckles
3.) Fertile Green
4.) Madness of an Architect
5.) Interlude
6.) Spiritual Rites
7.) King of Days
8.) De Vermis Mysteriis
9.) Romulus and Remus
10.) Warhorn
In advance of the new album’s release, HIGH ON FIRE will perform a number of live dates as part of the 2012 SXSW Music and Media Festival in Austin, TX. The band is expected to preview new material at the SX shows. The just-announced dates are as follows:
March 13 Austin, TX Emo’s East (Non-SXSW headline show)
March 14 Austin, TX SXSW (MetalSucks day party)
March 15 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s
March 16 Austin, TX SXSW (Brooklyn Vegan day party)
March 17 Austin, TX SXSW TBA
March 18 Austin, TX SXSW (High Times day party)
Finally, on June 30, HIGH ON FIRE will join Slayer, Slipknot, Anthrax and more as part of the 2012 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour. The 26 city jaunt will kick off in San Bernardino, CA and run through August 5 in Hartford, CT.
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