Live music review: High On Fire sold-out Mohawk with Weedeater and Burnt Skull
When it’s October in Austin, Texas and it’s still 95 degrees outside, outdoor sold-out shows can feel like the Summer season never ended. With Austin Italian cuisine staple Marinara Miracles slinging their signature dishes for a special pop-up event and Lone Star Beers overflowing the venue trash cans, fans in attendance at Mohawk on October 5 were indulged and ready to see a modern heavy metal favorite deliver a gig doing what they do best. For Oakland’s High on Fire’s second Austin appearance in just under a year on Saturday night, stoner metal fans came in full force to experience another helping of crushing riffs, bombastic drum beats, and relentless stampedes of bass that have become their trademark since being assembled in 1998.
Frontman and guitarist Matt Pike has a resume that spans over 30 years. Since recently relocating to Portland, Oregon, Pike hasn’t missed a beat. From starting doom metal revivalists Sleep in 1990 with Al Cisneros, who would go on to form stoner rock outfit Om, Pike has since crafted nine full-length records with his band that is anything but a side project at this point. In pure Motorhead fashion, High on Fire is rounded out by Pike, bassist Jeff Matz, and frequent flyer drummer Coady Willis. (Melvins, Murder City Devils, Big Business) Since the release of their 2024 LP Cometh The Storm, High on Fire is showing that they still have it and aren’t losing it anytime soon. The stacked bill at Red River Cultural District’s Mohawk was the appointed stomping grounds for the packed-venue affair, and an evening of spliff-rolled mayhem commenced for a performance that saw High on Fire riding high again.
First came local Austin duo Burnt Skull. Armed with a single guitar and drums, the local act ripped through the opening set to make a statement for all the Pikeheads in attendance. The two-piece made do with what they had, ripping through their set with urgency. After a brief 25-minute onslaught, the power twosome left the stage. They gained some new fans on Saturday night.
Next was legendary North Carolina doom act Weedeater. Formed in 1998 in Wilmington, the long-running touring unit has been assembled by Dave “Dixie” Collins and Dave “Shep” Shepherd. Their sludge roadmap consists of smoldering riffs, with plenty of Black Sabbath-isms readily intact. Even if the genre is just Black Sabbath classic “Sweet Leaf,” written forwards and backwards and slower and slower, the heaviness works, and the fans let the torches heat the dab rig nail accordingly.
The set also featured a guest spot with Gary Lindsay from Austin local staple, the Pleasure Tide and Weedeater tour manager Ben Jones, both welcome additions that made the crowd sound off in roaring approval.
High on Fire took the stage at 10 p.m., ready to deliver a solid 60 minutes of doom perfection. Matt Pike is a finger wizard on guitar, allowing electrifying guitar solos to be present in what is essentially every single cut the power trio has committed to tape. New album track “Burning Down” kicked things off for the headlining set, showing the abilities of the three-piece metal act getting pushed to the forefront.
Aside from song introductions, the set proved banterless as Pike and his assailants slashed through the barn-burning monsters with legacy metal act fury. The majority of the set came from the formidable new record, with the usual suspects “Fury Whip,” “Snakes For The Divine,” and “Fertile Green” making their ceremonious appearances.
The packed crowd proved to be challenging for the mosh-ready concertgoers, as the Mohawk staff retained their fire-code-aware stance by keeping the crowd confined to a box that separated the standing area and the soundboard box that squished the sold-out crowd into their standstill crowd positions. Eventually, the metalheads in attendance lost their collective cool. They made room, whether it was spatially logical or not, launching into a speed-sludge frenzy as the sonic barrage progressed into head-banging mayhem.
New record cut “Darker Fleece” closed the set, making the 10-song performance short and sweet for the diehards in attendance. Despite the at-capacity crowd that made navigating the Red River venue difficult, any vantage point is ideal for seeing Matt Pike and company invade Austin once again.
High on Fire continues down the road with Weedeater before wrapping things up in Seattle at the end of October. Tickets can be found via High on Fire’s website
All photos by Casey Chumbley
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