As if imitating one of the mighty beasts that haunt his band’s album covers, High on Fire's Matt Pike stands before his audience, arms outstretched, as a devilish grin peeks through his drapes of sweaty, matted hair. Pike proceeds to tear into another crushing riff on his custom nine-string guitar and the crowd responds accordingly; fists pumping to the beat, hair cutting gleaming swaths through the air thick with beer and the unique blend of bodily aromas that only a metal show can provide. Such was the scene at Harlow’s Saturday night.

Before Pike and his band took the stage, the opening acts built up the necessary fervor. Red Tape kicked the night off with an energetic set filled with dirty riffs played with a punk attitude that didn’t skimp on the melody. Guitarist/vocalist Jeff Jaworski even closed the performance with a NOLA-inspired groove straight from the bayous that compelled the early-comers to stomp their boots in unison.

Brooklyn retro thrashers Early Man were next, and the quartet ripped through a string of aggro anthems that echoed the glory days of the Bay Area, complete with Flying Vs, vintage cutoffs and pauses for a few generous gulps of Bud. Frontman and co-founder Mike Conte’s lips were curled in a perpetual Dave Mustaine snarl as he spat throwback gems like “All right, so you wanna fight/My fists are sticks of dynamite.” For 45 minutes, the classy club in downtown felt like a dive in the dilapidated back alleys of San Francisco.

When it finally came time for the headliners to take the stage, the standing area was packed end to end with metal dudes and dudettes eager for the Oakland collective to whip them into shape. 

And what a workout it was. Despite its beanstalk appearance, Pike’s shirtless, heavily tattooed form dominated the stage as it writhed to the vicious tom work of drummer Des Kensel and murky rumbles of bassist Jeff Matz. 

Five new tracks off the trio’s as-yet untitled fifth album made their second live appearance after a gig in Eureka the night before. The only one that was actually intelligible through Pike’s gravely Lemmy Kilmister growl was “The Mystery of the Elm,” but it and the other four were dripping with as much fury and sludge as anything in the decade-old act’s arsenal.

If Pike is indeed the underground’s Lemmy, and High on Fire is its Motörhead, then the band’s “Ace of Spades” is “Devolution.” The guys ended the night with the track, which opened their breakthrough 2005 record, Blessed Black Wings. Pike perched his foot authoritatively on the monitor as he shot his fist at the crowd to the syllables of the song’s titular refrain. The entire front row shouted the chorus back between bouts of moshing. Pike absorbed the energy and burned it instantly as he sent the night crashing down with one final dramatic rake across his guitar.