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By Dan Leone

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WATCHING GUITARIST- vocalist Matt Pike reign shirtlessly over the stage with his band High on Fire, you get the impression of someone whose thoughts are very focused – focused on important things in life like riffs, weed, God, and weight lifting. Even if you've grown weary of that dead horse of a genre known as "stoner rock," High on Fire command attention. Their new album, Surrounded by Thieves (Relapse), is unapologetically metal and defiant of trends (and even the passage of time itself), sounding almost ridiculously old, humid, and soot-covered. High on Fire play at this week's Stinky's Peepshow with Georgia's Mastodon, whose new album, Remission, also on Relapse, represents a more modern direction in heavy music. Their most striking feature is drummer Brann Dailor's Elvin Jones-gone-metal percussion frenzy. He slices and dices beats and layers rhythmic accents in ways that bring to mind the former Coltrane drummer, making every song feel like an extended drum fill. Nigel Peppercock opens. 9:30 p.m., 628 Divisadero, S.F. $10. (415) 440-4409. (Will York)