Electric Messiah
2018 studio album by High on Fire
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 83/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The A.V. Club | A− |
| Exclaim! | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10 |
| PopMatters | 7/10 |
Electric Messiah is the eighth studio album by American metal band High on Fire, released on October 5, 2018, through Entertainment One Music. It is the band's third album to be produced by Kurt Ballou, and it serves as a tribute to Lemmy Kilmister of the band Motörhead. On August 6, 2018, Electric Messiah's title track was released early for streaming. On October 3, 2018, the band released "Spewn from the Earth" as the album's second single. The song "Electric Messiah" won the Best Metal Performance at the 2019 Grammy Awards. It is the band's last album with founding drummer Des Kensel, who announced his departure in July 2019.
01Background
In July 2018, a few months after High on Fire frontman Matt Pike's other primary band, Sleep, released its comeback album, Electric Messiah was announced. Pike called it "the best album we've ever done, by far", and described its flow as "one stream of High on Fire consciousness".
02Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Spewn from the Earth" | 3:59 |
| 2. | "Steps of the Ziggurat / House of Enlil" | 9:21 |
| 3. | "Electric Messiah" | 4:16 |
| 4. | "Sanctioned Annihilation" | 10:29 |
| 5. | "The Pallid Mask" | 5:15 |
| 6. | "God of the Godless" | 5:20 |
| 7. | "Freebooter" | 4:57 |
| 8. | "The Witch and the Christ" | 6:32 |
| 9. | "Drowning Dog" | 6:43 |
| Total length: | 56:52 | |
03Personnel
High on Fire
- Matt Pike, lead vocals, guitars
- Jeff Matz, bass, backing vocals
- Des Kensel, drums, backing vocals
Technical personnel
- Kurt Ballou, production
04Accolades
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| The A.V. Club | The Best Metal Albums of 2018 | N/A | |
| Consequence of Sound | Top 25 Metal/Hard Rock Albums of 2018 | 20 | |
| Kerrang! | Top 50 Albums of 2018 | 38 | |
| Loudwire | Top 30 Metal Albums of 2018 | 16 | |
| Revolver | Top 30 Albums of 2018 | 15 |
05Awards
- Grammy Awards
- Best Metal Performance "Electric Messiah" by High on Fire
06Charts
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 184 |
| Scottish Albums (Official Charts) | 73 |
| US Billboard 200 | 127 |
| US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard) | 5 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) | 23 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Electric Messiah”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Electricmessiah.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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