Matt Pike – Pike vs. The Automaton
Release Date: 18th February 2022
Label: MNRK Heavy
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Stoner Metal.
FFO: High on Fire, COC, Black Sabbath, Mastodon.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Matt Pike is a man who needs no introduction. Over the course of nearly thirty years as the guitarist of Sleep and the vocalist/guitarist of High on Fire, the frequently shirtless one has been at the forefront of the doom/stoner genre for longer than many of his fans have been alive. Like many people during the pandemic, Pike found himself long on time and short on things to fill it with, so he started writing songs in his garage with his friend Jon Reid. The result of those sessions is a ten-track album of what Pike describes as a “psychedelic rock record that Sleep and High on Fire fans would like,” called Pike vs. The Automaton.
Right out of the gate, there is no doubt that this is a Matt Pike record. Although more varied than a typical High on Fire album, Pike vs. The Automaton is filled with the fuzz-drenched guitars, strained vocals, and raw energy of that has made his current band one of the darlings of the doom/stoner genre. Songs like “Abusive,” “Throat Cobra,” and “Alien Slut Mum” could be leftover tracks from the Electric Messiah or Luminiferous sessions. And, if you love High on Fire, getting more Electric Messiah or Luminiferous is a sweet prospect.
“Trapped in a Midcave” slows things down a little with a groove-laden nod to the mid-90s stoner bands, while “Epoxia” keeps the groove going for another minute as a reprise of “Trapped in a Midcave.” The next track is where Pike really starts to venture out from the well-worn-path of the stoner/doom style. Featuring Brent Hinds of Mastodon fame, “Land” is a bluesy stripped-back acoustic number that puts you in the mind of a couple of guys sitting on a back porch somewhere drinking beer and trading licks while Phil Anselmo and Pepper Keenan trade verses.
On “Apollyon,” Pike pulls out the weird in a song that would fit quite nicely on a Melvins album. “Acid Test Zone” speeds things up and gives Pike a chance to show off his banshee-esque screaming, before “Latin American Geological Formation” slows things back down, so that Pike can eschew his typical barrage of power chords in favor of a riff-heavy number that lands somewhere just this side of progressive. Closing things out is “Leaving the Wars of Woe,” which finds its way back to the familiar territory that Pike so often treads in his groups, and then finishes with five or so minutes of Black Sabbath-style jamming.
Overall, “Pike vs. The Automaton” is a collection of Matt Pike tunes that is as enjoyable as it is varied. Sometimes sounding like High on Fire and sometimes going to places that we haven’t heard him go before, there isn’t a bad song on the album. And while his collaboration with Brent Hinds is going to garner most of the press, Pike vs. The Automaton is more than capable of standing on its own and will surely find its way onto more than a few best-of lists.
(4 / 5)
