HIGH ON FIRE 'BLESSED BLACK WINGS' 2LP

High on Fire’s 2005 album is called Blessed Black Wings, but its album cover makes the word “blessed” feel like a bit of a misnomer. The tattered appendages protruding from the freaky gargoyle beast on its art appears completely void of holiness, and the band’s onslaught of gnarsty sludge metal reeks of the muck beneath Satan’s feet. Either way, the third LP from Sleep mastermind Matt Pike’s heavier and faster other band is simply one of the best in its class.