High on Fire Premiere “Frost Hammer” Video
Posted in Bootleg Theater, Whathaveyou on March 10th, 2010 by H.P. TaskmasterI’ve been waiting for High on Fire to finally get a budget for a video. Not that “Rumors of War” from Death is this Communion was bad, but it was pretty much the shortest song on the album and the video was basically the band playing in a warehouse. If it doesn’t have a battle axe, it hardly seems appropriate.
The ensuing clip for “Frost Hammer,” from the band’s much-lauded Snakes for the Divine LP, seems to have the cure for anyone wanting of the epic. To wit:
And sayeth the PR wire:
Filmed on location in both Los Angeles, CA and NYC with director Kevin Custer for Toaster in the Tub, High on Fire’s “Frost Hammer” video showcases intense performance footage of the award-winning band juxtaposed alongside “the epic tale of a warrior’s sojourn to the cold and barren Plateau of Leng where he secures the fabled Frost Hammer that will be used to enact the final rites and complete the dark rebirth and reign of the Frost Child.” [Duh. – ed.]
If you’ve been around stoner rock for 35 seconds or more, chances are you’ve encountered at least one band that made you say, “Damn, this sounds just like Black Sabbath.” Assuming you weren’t actually listening to Black Sabbath when you said it, it could have been just about anyone. In one way or another, every band in the genre is indebted to the Birmingham gods, whether they like it or not. San Franciscan four-piece Orchid like it. They like it plenty.
The Bride Screamed Murder is the third release featuring Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover and Big Business’ Coady Willis and Jared Warren. While Melvins recently celebrated their 25 anniversary, the latest incarnation debuted with the highly-praised (A) Senile Animal (2006) and continued with Nude with Boots (2008).
Despite hearing “Frost Hammer” well beforehand and streaming about half of the title track when that was put online, I held off listening to High on Fire’s fifth full-length, Snakes for the Divine (their first offering on new label E1 Music) until I could hold the disc in my hand. Since production was my major concern going into the record – how it would actually sound, in other words – I didn’t want to waste time on the poor quality of a MySpace stream or something like that. Plus, sometimes it’s better to wait. Builds the anticipation.
I put on Monolith, the new full-length from Chico, California, progressive instrumetallers La Fin du Monde, while a riding New Jersey Transit train for the first time in over a year. This wouldn’t be significant but for the fact of its former daily routine and the stout refusal I’ve made to board this or that numbered car since my “daily routine” earned its preceding “former.” A mental block, an associative trauma; there are numerous ways to frame it with varying levels of drama between them, but the point is it was something I wasn’t comfortable doing, and all I had to carry me through was La Fin du Monde.
“collector” just doesn’t capture. It gets to a certain point where it’s not even about the music anymore, about the bands, their songs or any of that. It’s about the thing, about having that thing that you don’t have yet, getting it before someone else can, finishing the band’s catalog or just having one more record with that band’s name on it to sit on the shelf with the others.
Maybe it’s a status thing? Bragging rights? Like the douchebag banker and his Ferrari? I’m certainly not a better person for having paid for what someone initially got for free, but it was an impulse I couldn’t have fought if I’d wanted to, and even now, I don’t really have buyer’s remorse for having snatched it just before the auction ended. This is what I do. I’m a completist. If I’m going to be obsessive compulsive about something, at least I’m not hurting anyone other than myself, and that only fiscally.
The upcoming release from Los Angeles psychedelic trio Dead Meadow, titled Three Kings, is nearly as difficult to conceptualize as it must have been to execute. Teaming up with the film company Artificial Army, the band (Steve Kille, bass; Jason Simon, guitar/vocals; Stephen McCarty, drums) captured a live show at a warehouse space called Little Radio in their adopted hometown and proceeded to intercut it with narrative film clips portraying the titular three characters — as played by the band — being morally beset on all sides on a journey they know not where, coming together finally for who knows what. Just to make matters more difficult, the audio companion to the DVD intersperses the already-mentioned live recordings with brand new studio tracks — and, get this — it all sounds pretty much the same.
Nebula will embark on a full US Tour beginning on March 16th in Houston, TX. Tee Pee Records labelmates Quest For Fire will support the band on the first leg and The Willowz and Lionize will support Nebula on the second leg of the tour.
I’ll be brief because I know that if some dumpy site I went to had a Saint Vitus interview I wanted to read, the last thing I’d be looking for would be the author’s wax poetry about the importance of the band. I’ll just say this:
Recordings tour, also featuring labelmates A Storm of Light and with special appearances from Harvestman at three Bay Area shows. Shrinebuilder will also perform at this year’s Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Holland alongside Thorr’s Hammer, Goatsnake, Enslaved, Eyehategod, Eagle Twin, Church of Misery and more.
The package consists of an album that stands alone with live material and five new studio songs produced by bassist Steve Kille including “That Old Temple” mixed by Dave Schiffman and mastered by Howie Weinberg. “Temple” is the first single and has an accompanying video. Dead Meadow have cradled the wide niche that resides between desert soaked ‘70s fuzz rock and sonically ambitious indie rock for over a decade. Members Kille, Jason Simon (vocals/guitar) and Stephen McCarty (drums) have released five studio albums, three of which were on Matador Records and two on Xemu Records. The Three Kings is a celebration of the band’s lyrical mythos and is directed by Artificial Army who in the past bent reality with videos for the likes of The Sword, Mars Volta and Coheed & Cambria.
