HLL (High Level Language) are mainly for RAD (Rapid Application Development) type projects.

Can they be as strong as some of the lower ones? With alot of hacking and digging, possibly. Will they perform as well as the lower ones? No, deffinitely not. The exception to this would be C/++. It's defined as a HLL, but it reaches over to both sides of the spectrum. It's deffinitely not as RAD capable as say VB.Net, C# or Java - but getting to the lowest layers is not only an option it's almost a requirement.