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).

Stoner/doom metal legends High On Fire have announced that they plan to commence recording for their seventh studio album in late January at Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios with producer Kurt Ballou. Ballou, who is also the guitarist in legendary hardcore/metalcore band Converge, is currently one of the most critically acclaimed and sought-after producers in extreme music. In addition to producing HOF’s most recent album, 2012’s De Vermis Mysteriis, he has helmed numerous classics from the likes of Nails, Baptists, All Pigs Must Die, Code Orange Kids, Trap Them, Skeletonwitch, Vallenfyre, Black Breath, Kvelertak, and countless others.

High On Fire wrote the material for the new disc over the past year in both their hometown of Oakland and in New Orleans. The songs have been described as “epic” and “sonically huge.”