High on Fire—the stoner metal gods fronted by Sleep guitarist Matt Pike—have announced a new album titled Electric Messiah for release on October 5 via eOne. The title track to the album is streaming now and, as Pike explained to NPR, it is a tribute to the late Motörhead frontman Lemmy.
“I had a dream about Lemmy,” Pike said in a press release. “When Lemmy was still alive I always got compared to Lemmy, so I had this dream where he got pissed at me. He gave me a bunch of shit, basically, and was hazing me. Not that he didn’t approve of me, but like I was being hazed. The song is me telling the world that I could never fill Lemmy’s shoes because Lemmy’s Lemmy. I wanted to pay homage to him in a great way. And it turned out to be such a good title that the guys said we should call the album Electric Messiah.”
Electric Messiah will be recorded with Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, who High on Fire have worked with since 2012’s De Vermis Mysteriis.
“This band keeps evolving,” Pike added regarding the album. “This is by far the best record I’ve ever made with the High on Fire stamp. It just keeps getting better and better. We just try to outdo ourselves. I’m not saying the old work is progressively worse, it’s just that we get better every time instead of burning out, which is a common finality for a lot of bands. This album is fucking excellent, I just love everything on it, I’m not bummed about anything. It’s great when you think that about your record.”
Listen to “Electric Messiah” now and pre-order it here.
1. Spewn From the Earth
2. Steps of the Ziggurat/House of Enlil
3. Electric Messiah
4. Sanctioned Annihilation
5. The Pallid Mask
6. God of the Godless
7. Freebooter
8. The Witch and the Christ
9. Drowning Dog
