“A lot of people call it metal, a lot o people call it stoner metal, a lot of people call it heavy rock and roll…It’s somewhere between Black Sabbath and Metallica and maybe a bit of Down.”
Fazz Hellman
Melbourne hard rock outfit High As Hell have certainly done it hard as hell in their brief existence.
After releasing their debut album Razorblade Dream during the bleak COVID years and not being able to fully tour or promote their music, High As Hell have wasted little time in rectifying that situation with a string of high-energy gigs up and down the East Coast of Australia.
Along the way the band have gathered a continually growing legion of fans who gravitate towards their stoner meets metal-edged sound and now plan to give their debut release the respect it deserves by releasing it again, but this time on vinyl.
To celebrate, High As Hell plan to commandeer The Old Bar in Melbourne on November 25 and are bringing with them their good mates from Duneeater, The Balls and Flying Dutchman to wreak havok.
To tell us more, HEAVY tracked down vocalist/guitarist Fazz Hellman to find out more information.
“In my eyes this one’s gonna be one for the ages,” he enthused. “It’s a fully stacked line-up – and I know people say this shit all the time – but the bands are all of my favourite local bands. It’s gonna be a very cool night.”
As mentioned, the initial release of Razorblade Dream co-incided with lockdowns and the uncertainty of COVID, so having the chance to re-release the album on vinyl is of special significance to High As Hell.
“It’s gotta be done,” Fazz laughed. “People still love having that hard copy of music. There’s still a lot of old school crew out there, and even the younger crew as well. It’s just good to have artwork and something in your hands. We will have the full merch stand including vinyl going on the night. That’s become a huge thing for us since having Youngy on board. He’s mad about his merch, and he does it well, so that’s definitely one thing that we’ve learned from him.”
In the full interview, Fazz talks more about the launch party on November 25, the decision to release the album during COVID, the difficulties caused by that, the initial reception to Razorblade Dream, what High As Hell base their sound on, new music and the direction it is going, writing music during COVID without the luxury of being able to road test the songs live, the diversity in their music that enables them to play live with bands from King Parrot to Odius to Massic, their upcoming trip to Tasmania with King Parrot and more.
