Customer Reviews

Live at the Relapse Contamination Festival

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Matt Pike & Co are the new gods of metal. Scorching guitar riffs, tribal & thundering drums, thick bass lines & above all Pike's hoarse vocals. All this brought to you live.
They throw in a great Venom cover (Witching Hour) for good measure. Great!!!

I'm biased towards this trio from Oakland, but this recording rates as my favorite metal album, period. It's next to impossible to rate the metal gods of the past, and I've enjoyed many of them, to a modern act like High on Fire--because it's is like comparing Babe Ruth to Albert Pujols--but the Live at Relapse recording is just too sustainable a work to submit to the others. Its adherance to the no-nonsense, crushing riffs and throbbing pulse of its incomparable live act, coupled with the clean production on this recording, gives creedence to the band's claims as an authentically one-of-a-kind metal act. The technical mystique of High on Fire--from the Soldano cabinets, the hollow-tube amps and 12-string guitar with Matt Pike's "chorusy effects" are all in evidence here, and the suddeness of each song's beginning is pleasurably harsh. There is a raggedness to this recording that balances with the tight precison of the performance that is almost unheard of on most live albums. While I certainly enjoy the Old Masters in Zeppelin, Sabbath and Metallica and am always on the lookout for new artists (The Sword comes to mind) to stoke my metal passion, it is Live at Relapse I can't seem to stay away from for long.

Not for people who like crying. This will kick you in your pathetic Emo guts until youre bleeding from your mascara-smeared eyesockets!
This is a great quality recording of a high energy performance recorded and released between "Surrounded by Thieves" and "Blessed Black Wings", which was my favorite HOF period. Its not hard to imagine that their set dominated the festival, laying waste to all the other bands, and pounding every beer-soaked brain in the audience into jelly. Definitely proves that they were, and still are, the real deal! Just 3 dudes on a stage totally kickin everyones ass! It doesn't get any heavier, especially for a live recording! Own it!

I was really stoked when I saw some months ago that High on Fire was releasing a live CD. They have become one of my favorite bands. Juggernaut is the word so often used to describe them and I gotta say it's an accurate description of their sound. But after seeing the track listing I was left wondering, why? Why such a short live album? Why so many songs from their weakest album? Why does it seem as if this is just a CD made to fulfill a recording contract? Did I buy it anyway? Hell yeah!! It's High on Fire!! This is a CD that hard-core fans will want and enjoy. The cover of Venom's Wiching Hour is cool, but I really wish they would've released a longer live album with more from Art of Self Defense and Blessed Black Wings--maybe that will come later with some material off of Death is this Communion as well. This is NOT a bad CD, I just don't see the need in it, most HoF fans have all these songs (except for the Venom song), it's very heavy on Surrounded by Thieves stuff (which I think is a weaker album), and it's too short--maybe that was their whole set--but still it's short for a live release. Is it worth the money--Yes. If you're already a fan, buy it. If you've never heard them before or you're just getting into them I suggest Blessed Black Wings and Death is this Communion first. Then Art of Self Defense followed by Surrounded by Thieves. Oh yeah, if you ever get the chance to see them live, don't pass it up--you'll understand why they're described as Juggernauts.

excellent live release by high on fire, but dont buy it on amazon,
get it brand new from relapse records web site for around $10.00,
not the $90 this seller is hoping for.