Blessed Black Wings

Steve Albini produced it with the band, engineered it himself, and John Golden mastered. The band is Matt Pike on guitar and vocals, Des Kensel on drums and Joe Preston on bass — the only High on Fire album Preston played on before Jeff Matz replaced him. The visuals are by Arik Roper. "The Face of Oblivion" and "Cometh Down Hessian" are both built on H. P. Lovecraft stories, At the Mountains of Madness and The Hound respectively. The vinyl edition is a double LP and adds a cover of Judas Priest's "Rapid Fire" as a bonus. The reception was largely positive, with particular praise for Albini's production and most of the criticism aimed at Pike's vocals. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic noted Pike's regard for Celtic Frost and heard that band in the closing instrumental "Sons of Thunder". Adrien Bergrand of PopMatters welcomed the record as more listener-friendly, akin to Neurosis's The Eye of Every Storm, which Albini also produced, while hearing Motorhead, Slayer and Entombed in it. Kerrang! voted it 48th in its fifty greatest albums of the twenty-first century. The running order here is the original CD's as printed.