High on Fire’s Matt Pike has returned with new song from his upcoming album, Pike vs. The Automaton. The new song – titled “Land” – features Mastodon’s Brent Hinds.
Contrary to what fans would typicaly expect from Pike or Hinds, the new song features the former’s weathered and worn vocals, which compliment this bluesy track. In black and white, the music video is styled like an old silent film, with Pike moving from place to place while the band plays in the background.
“‘Land’ was written after I had just come home from a tour. It’s like an old blues song. I was thinking it as like a bunch of old dudes in a subway doing a doo-wop thing,” Pike said. “It has the feel of a two-step like my Mom used to dance to, like Country Western. It’s totally about depression and leading a hard life.”
Throughout the video, a drunken Pike is dragged into multiple altercations with different characters.
Pike added of Hinds’s feature on the song, “Later, I was playing the song for Brent Hinds from Mastodon who had come out to Portland to jam with me and he laid down this smokin’-ass Billy Gibbons kind of solo! I did one solo and then he did his solo and I’m like, ‘You’re a dick,’ (laughs). The bass player from Brent’s other band West End Motel, Steve McPeeks, played some stand-up bass – both plucking and with a bow – and it really brought out this depth to the song. I’ve never written a song like that and recorded it and made it as cool as it is. It’s totally different.”
Pike vs. The Automoton will be released February 18 through MNRK Heavy. It will feature guest turns from Lord Dying’s Alyssa Maucere-Pike, Chad “Chief” Hartgrave, West End Motel’s Steve McPeeks, El Cerdo’s Josh Greene, Tragedy’s Todd Burdette, and Pike’s bandmate Jeff Matz.
Pike says he believes the upcoming album has something for everyone.
“I made a psychedelic rock record that Sleep and High on Fire fans would like,” Pike said. “And maybe if you’re not a Sleep or High on Fire fan, you might like it too. I definitely think it’s interesting; it has D-Beat punk, two-step. It’s got everything and it still works together, it doesn’t sound odd. It’s just an off-the-wall psychedelic rock record.”
The music video for “Land” can be viewed below.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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