Each is punctuated by riffs of great gravitas but prove to be as open to change as the drunk uncle at the end of Christmas dinner. Pike is renowned for his talent for constructing immeasurable riffscapes across sun-bitten plains as a pioneering force with SLEEP, and yet the album’s longer cuts, namely Trapped In A Midcave, Apollyon and Leaving The Wars Of Woe, feel akin to a slow death by quicksand. Highlights still exist, no doubt, with Pike’s imagination off even the slightest idea of a leash, and A-list guests – like MASTODON’s Brent Hinds and HIGH ON FIRE’s own Jeff Matz – putting their pedigree to good use, but far too often does the album stray into a monotonous, spiralling chug-fest for these facets to truly lift it above its faults. These are missteps that Pike has bizarrely retraced on his first solo venture (perhaps all the distortion blew him off course), a decision that leaves the project desperately searching for the merciful carver’s knife to trim the fat. Despite its accolades, however, Electric Messiah would occasionally divert from the band’s norm of intelligent and engaging songwriting, drawing out eight to ten-minute runtimes into a mire of tedium and stagnation. HIGH ON FIRE ’s 2018 effort, Electric Messiah, was a landmark in Pike’s modern portfolio, with Grammy Award-winning performances thrusting the ‘ SABBATH riffs played at MOTORHEAD speeds’ formula ever deeper into wider relevancy. Sadly, despite Pike’s propensity for greatness, the record falls short of a crippling boundary: redundancy. With decades of experience and 12 records in tow, it’s a real shock that Pike has only just begun to carve his own path but, nevertheless, his debut solo LP, Pike Vs The Automaton, arrives besides an abundance of expectations to fulfil. From his post as the lead axeman for legendary stoner-rock giants SLEEP, arguably the epitome of the sub-genre itself, and the founder of modern sludge/stoner fuzz-heads HIGH ON FIRE, Pike has remained a restless force with an insatiable appetite for the reverberating joy of six strings and a pick. MATT PIKE has established himself as somewhat of a minor royal amongst the rock monarchy and, to this day, has never taken his titles for granted, working tirelessly across multiple projects to reinforce his mighty virtuosity.
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