Oakland power trio High On Fire is the heir apparent to Motorhead. Matt Pike’s massive riffs are pummeling and often played at a breakneck speed (much in contrast to the axeman’s other band, the sludgy stoner doom kings Sleep). The rhythm section of bassist Jeff Matz and Dez Kenzel also sound like a the rumbling of a tank barreling down the listener.

Pike recently completed rehab and has emerged sober, focused and hell-bent on creating the most massive riffs that metal has ever known. High On Fire’s seventh studio album, Luminiferous, is out now and I highly recommend that you run out and grab a copy (or, you know, stay in and download it… legally, of course).

But, for today’s edition of Massive Metal Monday we take a look back to 2010 and the band’s fifth album. This is the title track of the battering ram known as Snakes For The Divine. Check it out here below. And be sure to catch HOF on tour this summer at the following dates and venues.

When I was growing up in rural Indiana in the early ’80s, there was very limited access to heavy music. These were the days before MTV blew up with the whole hair metal, Headbangers Ball phenomenon. But on Sunday nights, there was a two-hour radio show that came from WOXY, just across the state line in Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University of Ohio). It was called Massive Metal for the Masses and I would wait all week for it to air. It was through this show that I was introduced to bands like Venom, Bathory, WASP, Michael Schenker Group, Slayer, and countless others. This Monday weekly column is my tip of the hat to that show. I call it Massive Metal Monday. Every week, I will pay tribute to defining moments by the artists that laid the groundwork for heavy metal to become the worldwide cultural bond for all of us metal heads.