White Hills Heads Are On Fire

Earlier in 2009, Thrill Jockey announced that they had signed prog rockers extrordinaire White Hills and would also be releasing a few of their older records. Well while the world is waiting for their next trip to outer space to be launched, White Hills have gone back in time with the re-release of Heads On Fire and it's a doozy

Forged from a single member and eventually bursting into three, this power trio's simple goal was to take space rock into the 21st century. They've most definitely accomplished that. In fact, you could say that White Hills sounds like what Hawkwind would sound like if their spacecraft landed on planet earth now. This is a band that simply jams and jams hard. They do not noodle around on a guitar, but step up to the plate and just goes for it, full tilt, pedal(wah wah of course) to the metal, riffs blazing, guitars on fire and drums pounding away. It's pulse pounding stuff to use a cliche.

Heads On Fire is yet another epic record that fears no amount of time or song structure. The album wanders the galaxy at the speed of light with noisy distortion filled songs that span the farthest reaches our mortal domain. White Hills are absolutely incredible at creating these kinds of atmospherics and a feeling that the universe does indeed go on for all eternity. They're songs are progressively rooted and darkly tinged like deep space itself and Heads On Fire is a truly massive record that will haunt your mind and force you to look skyward.

From the explosive start of the aptly titled, "Eternity," to the doom-laden final notes of, "Don't Be Afraid," Heads On Fire is a brilliant album of guitar fireworks, space jams, and songs that are aurally challenging in all the best ways. White Hills are astronauts on the starship Freakout and it will be very interesting to hear what these guys come up with on their new album when they eventually return to our planet. If you've ever fancied songs that don't know when to stop or what galaxy they're even in then White Hills is like the most important band you will ever hear.