HIGH ON FIRE Taps METALLICA/SLAYER Producer For New Album

Oakland, California's HIGH ON FIRE will begin work on its long-awaited fifth studio album this August. The band will commence pre-production in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman (METALLICA, SLAYER, JOHNNY CASH),with the goal of capturing "the ultimate HIGH ON FIRE experience." An early 2010 release via E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records) is expected.

In a February 2009 interview with Swigged!, HIGH ON FIRE vocalist/guitarist Matt Pike stated about the song writing process for the band's new album, "We're getting more intricate in our songwriting and actual playing. Some of it is rudimentary — not as difficult as it seems — but at the same time there is complicated chord work, key changes, and other really cool things. It's been going good — we're leaning on the whole BLACK SABBATH kind of thing."

Regarding how the group has been able to draw from its experiences working with such producers as Steve Albini and jack Endino, Pike said, "It's going to definitely help us more when we're actually recording than anywhere else. There are different sounds you can get — clean, dirty, close-up sounds. You can get cave-like sounds, like you're on the side of a mountain. There are just so many things you can do, and all the producers we've worked with just have a different style and a different way of showing it. It's taught us how to mic things a certain way to get what we want to hear. It's all still an experiment; you never know what you're going to come up with when you have that much experience behind you."

Prior to entering the studio, HIGH ON FIRE will embark on a string of California live dates beginning on August 7 in Eureka. The group is expected to preview some of its new material live for the very first time at these shows.