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Blessed Black Wings
Blessed Black Wings
Studio album by High on Fire
Released February 1 2005
Recorded 2004 at Electrical Audio in Chicago, Illinois
Genre Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal
Length 53:23
Label Relapse Records
Producer High on Fire, Steve Albini
High on Fire chronology
Surrounded By Thieves
(2002)
Blessed Black Wings
(2005)
Live From The Relapse Contamination Festival
(2005)

Blessed Black Wings is the third studio album by American heavy metal band High on Fire. Recorded and produced by Steve Albini in Chicago, it would be a further breakthrough for the band and an evolution for the band's sound, deviating more into heavy metal with some cleaner vocals throughout. Notably, Blessed Black Wings would be the only studio album to feature bassist Joe Preston (Earth, Melvins, Sunn O))), The Whip, etc.), whom performed with the band from 2004 to early 2006.

Blessed Black Wings was voted 48th in the '50 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century' by Kerrang! magazine.

Background[]

Development on High on Fire's third studio album would begin in 2004, initially with George Rice on bass. However Rice would leave the band by the summer of that year to which Joe Preston would join that July, his first show with the band on 4 August.[1] The band would go to Electrical Audio in Chicago that Fall to record the third album. By December a new song in "Devilution" would be revealed, later the lead single.[2] A music video for the song would be revealed in February, filmed in San Francisco, CA with director Gary Smithson (Tomahawk, Goatwhore).[3] Notably the song "Brother in The Wind" would be placed on a split 7" with the Japanese experimental band Ruins (With their exclusive track "Gwodhunqa") in a collaboration between Skin Graft Records and Relapse.[4]

Blessed Black Wings would be released on 1 February 2005, with the vinyl version and Japanese CD containing a bonus track in a cover of "Rapid Fire" by Judas Priest. Blessed Black Wings was released to positive reception. Critics in particular praised Steve Albini's production of the album. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic acknowledged Pike's appreciation of Celtic Frost noting the influence of the band in the closing instrumental "Sons of Thunder".[5] Adrien Bergrand of PopMatters praised the album (Awarding an 8/10) for being more listener-friendly akin to Neurosis's The Eye of Every Storm (also produced by Albini) while noting influence from Motörhead, Slayer, and Entombed.[6] Sam Ubl (Writing for Pitchfork and awarding a 7.3/10) has stated that Blessed Black Wings and it's sharper and more agile sound will appeal to fans of Mastodon's Leviathan.[7]

Blabbermouth would award the album a 9/10 score, describing the album as "is the analog evolution of the unwashed, unapologetic metal of the early '80s, VENOM and CIRITH UNGOL and CELTIC FROST and old DARK ANGEL, dragged through an alternate reality that never included quantizing or ProTools or click tracks.".[8] Brandon Sideleau, writing for PunkNews and awarding the album a perfect 10/10 score, would praise Matt Pike's songwriting, stating in the review that Blessed Black Wings "is a real assault on the senses, and also a bit more varied than their previous works. Where their past albums have chosen to stick with (more or less) one style throughout the whole album, this album adds in hints of classic hardcore, thrash and punk along with the usual, amazing "Sabbath-esque" heavy metal riff. It's utterly brutal and an amazing experiance from start to finish, already a contender for my favorite "heavy" album of the year.".[9] In relations to a re-issue of the album on vinyl, Vinyl Me Please would write a retroactive piece on the album in 2017, noting that High on Fire (Along with Mastodon and Lamb of God) had come at the right time and established themselves as "new metal heroes" with this album.[10]

Blessed Black Wings had received numerous accolades over the years:

  • Stonerrock.com - The Top 25 Albums of 2005 (#1)[11]
  • Kerrang Magazine - 50 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century (#48)
  • Terrorizer Magazine - The Top 21 Relapse Records (#21)[12]
  • Stereogum - The Top 20 Steve Albini-Produced Albums (#18)[13]
  • Loudwire - The 100 Best Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 21st Century (#73)[14]
  • Metal Hammer - The Ten Essential Sludge Metal Albums[15]
  • Treble Zine - Ten Essential Sludge Metal Albums[16]
  • Rolling Stone - The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time (#84)[17]

Tracklist[]

All songs written by High on Fire except where noted.
Track 10 is exclusive to the vinyl and Japanese CD.

  • 1. Devilution (4:46)
  • 2. The Face of Oblivion (6:36)
  • 3. Brother in The Wind (5:40)
  • 4. Cometh Down Hessian (5:14)
  • 5. Blessed Black Wings (7:43)
  • 6. Anointing of Seer (5:39)
  • 7. To Cross The Bridge (7:20)
  • 8. Silver Back (3:14)
  • 9. Sons of Thunder (7:12)
  • 10. Rapid Fire (4:17) (Judas Priest)

Personnel[]

  • Matt Pike - Guitar, Vocals
  • Des Kensel - Drums, Percussion
  • Joe Preston - Bass
  • Steve Albini - Engineer, Producer
  • Rob Vester - Assistant Engineer
  • Russ Arbuthnot - Assistant Engineer
  • John Golden - Mastering
  • Greg Norman - Amp Repair
  • Arik Roper - Artwork

External Links[]

References[]

V·T·E High on Fire
Current Members Matt PikeJeff MatzCoady Willis
Past Members George RiceJoe PrestonDes Kensel • Nick Parks • Christopher Maggio
Studio Albums The Art of Self DefenseSurrounded By ThievesBlessed Black WingsDeath Is This CommunionSnakes For The DivineDe Vermis MysteriisLuminiferousElectric Messiah
Extended Plays High on FireSpeak In TonguesBat Salad
Live Albums Live From The Relapse Contamination FestivalSpitting Fire
Associated Bands, Artists, Etc. SleepKalasDear DeceasedEarthMelvinsHarvey Milk • Zeke • Mutoid Man
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