2024-04-19 07:00:47
(c) James Rexroad
In fact, five and a half years have passed since the Grammy-winning “Electric Messiah,” but it was High On Fire Since then, anything but inactive. Among other things, Matt Pike ventured into a solo album, Jeff Matz learned the art of Middle Eastern folk music and also became part of Mutoid Man, and drummer Des Kensel, a founding member, left the band in 2019. Desired candidate Coady Willis (Big Business, formerly Melvins) is now involved and was allowed to stand up „Cometh The Storm“ let off steam – an album that takes a step back to the trio’s musical origins.
Even though you’ve known what you’re getting with High On Fire, you haven’t heard the veterans so powerful and focused in a long time. The lead single “Burning Down” serves up a well-known Pike riff, nicely laid out and powerful, while all around there is a more heavy-handed feel that determines the proceedings. Doom and sludge, but also roasting heaviness spread, pressing and relentlessly moving forward. The angry High On Fire appear in the short, concise “The Beating”. A true thrash explosion, crazy stoner riffing and hardcore-tinged anger spread, following just under 150 seconds it’s over once more – a furious statement of a song.
The fact that “Tough Guy” is immediately followed by an angry, ponderous, powerfully pounding song fits the picture perfectly. Here the rough, droning art of the Americans is pressed into an astonishingly short, concise format. The stark opposite is called “Darker Fleece” and closes the record as a ten-minute track. The extended drone intro with its disturbing signals leads into a cacophony of sagging doom walls and whiny guitars, strongly reminiscent of the earlier albums and yet surrounded by a putrid freshness. In the title song “Cometh The Storm” the band has a slightly psychedelic touch at times, before the tough, unrecognizably extended doom sludge robs you of any breathing space, skillfully staged by Pike’s screams.
High On Fire take a small step back to start once more, bringing the doomy stoner sludge of their Relapse albums back to the fore. Wholesome force robs all senses and can blossom into endless destructive rage. “Cometh The Storm” needs one or two additional runs to get through the roof, only to then not let go. Although Pike, Matz and Willis primarily rely on the familiar, that’s exactly what can inspire – the sweet riffs, the martial heaviness, the poisonous vocals, rare uptempo excursions and putrid grooves. Once once more, High On Fire deliver a little masterpiece as only they can, cementing their place in the darkened sun.
Rating: 9/10
Available from: April 19, 2024
Available via: MNRK Records (SPV)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/highonfire
Slider-Pic (c) James Rexroad
Category: Magazin, Reviews
1713933456
#High #Fire #Cometh #Storm
