One of my more favorite quotable lines of recent memory comes from Avengers: Infinity War. Spoiler alert for those who have not seen it, or lived under a rock. When Thor meets the Guardians of the Galaxy, ends up on their ship The Milano, and engages in some snappy banter,, this is the thing tickling my funny bone. When Thor exclaims they need to proceed to Nidavellir, and when posed with the reply that’s a made-up word, he replies “All words are made up.” This is not only funny but it’s true! And it made me think about what else, music. Specifically how all sub-genres are made up and in context to all the music we hear. One year after their sizzling debut, it’s time to enjoy this bitching brand new and totally badass High Reeper album, Higher Reeper (Heavy Psych Sounds).
Philadelphia Pennsylvania has been a hotbed of metal talents from across all of these made up sub-genres the last few years: Death Metal, Black Metal, Hardcore, and Stoner/Doom Metal. “The city of brotherly love” totally has a thing for the grim side of life and the heavier the better mostly. High Reeper’s cleverly titled sophomore album straddles the Stoner and Doom styles, with nods to Psychedelic rock and even some Trad Heavy Metal. There are a ton of bands wading into this realm to tease your ears with licks and wails, but few really get to the essence of the bands that formed these bonds.
The band just doesn’t write great, memorable songs, they feel like they could have come out at any time in the last fifty years of metal history. Not every riff or motif is fully original, and no band truly is. However High Reeper have clearly studied their craft well, and these songs hold up on repeat lessons. This isn’t always the case with the genre. Vocalist Zach Thomas has a voice that reminds you of equal parts Ozzy, Lee Dorian, and Pepper Keenan. Guitarists Pat Daly and Andrew Price have a great deal of interplay between their parts, at times having such a close tone it sounds like one guitar, double tracked. Other times you really appreciate how they support each other as players. Bassist Shane Trimble has a delicious and nasty bass tone, and like all the past greats he knows the secret to fantastic lines. There is an art in knowing when to play along with the riffs and when to “walk”. Shane knows it. Drummer Justin DiPinto us a welcome and recent new addition.
Save for one mellow, trippy track, Higher Reeper is full of straight bangers. ‘Eternal Leviathan’ gets things boiling hot out of the gate with that classic Sabbath stomp. ‘Buried Alive’ is so true and righteous, it could be a lost Coven outtake. My personal favorite track on the album is the more trad Priest and Maiden worship of ‘Bring The Dead’. It is the dream song of my denim-clad teen years come back to me.
What the band does really well is switching things up to keep from being a one-note act. ‘Apocalypse Hymn’ is perfect roll it, smoke it, and chill tunnage. The enormous bass/guitar tone of ‘Foggy Day’ can mess with SLEEP and their children. Late album track ‘Obsidian Peaks’ is also sweet.
For this band to change one member, and come back with such a strong second album in less than a year is admirable. Great things are possible for these disciples of the riff. I’m not sure what’s in the water in Philly, but they keep making bands like High Reeper and we will keep listening and headbanging along!
8 / 10
KEITH CHACHKES