''Surrounded by Thieves'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band

High on Fire High on Fire is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1999. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, also plays guitar for doom metal band Sleep. High on Fire won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal P ...

. It was the band's first album for

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label w ...

and was produced by Billy Anderson and the band itself. "Hung, Drawn and Quartered" was utilized as the album's promotional track. It was featured on a 7" split with

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's "March of the Fire Ants" and had a music video which aired on ''

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

'' and MTV's ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more o ...

''. It would be the last album with founding bassist George Rice.

Reception

''Surrounded by Thieves'' was well received by critics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

's Brian O'Neill awarded the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "relentless" and suggesting that every song was "an epic that rolls like sinister thunder across the landscape." O'Neill noted that there was "not much variation" on the album but added that variety isn't necessary "when you get locked into a groove this good." Isaiah Violante, writing for ''

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'', gave a similarly positive review of 8.8 out of 10. He praised the album's " nihilistic theme and all-encompassing walls of drone". He went on to praise the band for being able to "only operate according to its own whims" while also making "organic and monstrous music".

Track listing

Personnel

* Matt Pike – guitar, vocals *George Rice – bass * Des Kensel – drums

Production

*Billy Anderson – producer, engineer *Mark Keaton – mastering *Orion Landau – artwork *Justin Lieberman – assistant engineer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surrounded By Thieves 2002 albums High on Fire albums Albums produced by Billy Anderson (producer)