Hi, everyone. Company Stormtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new High on Fire album, cometh the Storm. Ready for the Storm? Yep, you sure are. This is the ninth full-length album from Sludge Metal Legends, High on Fire. Truly Giants of the Groove, Wizards of the Riff, and they are still doing their thing after all these years. They've been a band for over two decades at this point, and the quality records and accolades just keep coming. Their last full-length LP, while not my favorite in their discography, partially served as a tribute to the late Let Me Kill Mister, who passed just a few years before the album came out. The record actually led to a 2019 Grammy win for metal performance of the year. Crazy, considering how little praise groups like High on Fire get in the mainstream, but if any band deserves it, it's them. Not just because of the roots they have in the genre, going all the way back to game-changing classics like Sleep's Dope Smoker, would the heaviest strains of underground metal even sound the same today, if not for this record? So yeah, obviously, High on Fire has those connections has some classics under their belt in their catalog.

But even in recent years, their output has stayed consistent and impressive, whether it was the anthemic and surprisingly tuneful Luminiferus or 2012's Day Vermice's mysteries, which definitely tested the limits of speed the band could hit with these thrash sludge metal combines while still giving us that trademark heaviness. There are a couple of defining characteristics that make cometh the Storm a standout album in High on Fire's discography, too. There's Matt Pike, whose guitar riffs have long been the guiding light of the band, but it's actually his vocals on this record that are surprising me a bit. Tris Magistus, as well as Burning Down, are just two of many tracks on this LP, where Matt is just vocally going harder than ever. I mean, he's always been known to have a throaty rasp that sounds like a combination of Let Me Kill Mister's vocals and a lion who's a roar has been impacted by a lifetime of smoking marbs and gargling glass shards. But he is just absolutely screaming his brains out on this LP and barely even trying to carry a tune, which is surprising, considering that seemed to be the mode on Luminiferous. The guy is now at 51 years of age, from what I understand, and what has him sounding more monstrous than ever, I don't know, but he's doing it.

On the guitar side, though, Matt is pretty much sticking with his guns, with these crushing mid-paced riffs that straddle the border between doom and thrash metal. He is clearly not phoning it in, though, even if what he is doing is familiar, especially on the solo side, like when he's busting into some insane shredding licks on burning down or giving us these really weird ascending chromatic lines in the midst of the Riff on Soul's Golden Curse. There are some really cool chord phrasing as well on the opening track to the record Lambsbred. And this song also brings another very interesting change of pace to the record, too. As past the halfway point, the band breaks into this trippy instrumental palette of Middle Eastern exotica with plucky lead melodies and hand drums. And it's actually akin to something sleep bandmate Al Cisneros would do in one of his groups inside projects like Om, which is a vibe that for years high on fire has not really been about. It's interesting to hear it pop up on this record. However, I guess I can't be too surprised, especially considering that sleep did reform not too long ago to come out with the sciences.

The record also gives us a bit of an instrumental breather at the midpoint that goes in a similar stylistic direction, Kharanlok Yol, which is a great jam all around. I feel like the band really channeled this sound authentically, but also in a way to where it doesn't feel like it's just sticking out like an awkward sore thumb. On the record, it compliments the rest of the tracklist pretty well. However, don't go into this record presuming that High on fire is giving us just this chill, meditative metal moment. No, there are definitely some ragers in the tracklist here, especially the beating, which kicks off with the lyrics, Shake the tree, hands held high, blood and piss, run down your thighs. Hand to hand, not suicide, blood assault, here ain't no crime. The beating is here, assassinate, cutthroat grin, Melee Life, I focus in, The Beeding is clear, no one can heal you. So that's pretty to the point, and it's a speedy cut for the band, too, with these somewhat hokey heavy metal licks that are contrasted with, of course, High on Fire's usual heavy rift passages. I will say, though, I don't think the second half of the record is quite as strong or as refreshing as the first.

As tough guy to my ears is pretty standard High on Fire fare. There's still a great performance on this track, though, and I guess I will say the grim, hellish apocalyptic imagery on the lyrics of the track combined with these mentions of machinery. It's almost giving a recent output from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, not to insinuate that there's any crossover influence going on here, that there's anything derivative per se, directly, but could serve as an interesting entry point for any giz heads who are yet to get into High on Fire. Also a quick shout out to the rhythm section of the band. A fellow brother in the sludge metal game, drummer Cody Willis, has stepped in on Skins for this record. He's mostly known for his time spent in the band Big Business, but this will also be the second instance in which I believe High on Fire has featured someone who has served tenure at some point in the band Melvins. You can really hear in the pounding drum timbers on this LP. The rhythms across this record are pounding, are heavy, not a lot of sustain, just quick and to the point, and very big, too.

For the most part, the bass on the record is mostly there to just thicken things up. However, on Lightning Beard, they really do let the bass player get some with a couple of bass breakdowns that have these nimble, jammy, walked solo runs that are very Black Sabbath-esque. Plus, the lyrics on the track are almost like building up a theme on the record because there's more mentions of adrenaline junkieism and gas and gears and drifting and speeding. If they're not jamming this track at monster truck rallies by the end of the year, someone's fucking up. If there is a major downside to the LP, I think it's the vocals, which, yes, I was praising earlier for being super aggressive, more so than usual in high on fire's case. But some of the more subtle or chill and laid back tracks is where that approach doesn't quite work so much, especially on the very harmonious hunting shadows where they seem a little out of place. And while I do love the rift passages and the chorus and the epic length of the title track on this thing. The vocals seem a little more buried in the mix than I would like them to be.

Then finally, the band really does save the heaviest for last with the closing cut on this thing. With riffs the size of Mountaintops stops that are as dense as lead. The band chemistry is just high, high, high on this one on the performance side. We also have a very slow, doomy outro on the track that is just bringing it back to the old sleep days, too. It's a respectable finish, but given the first track on the record, given the instrumental interlude in the middle of the album, too, I was hoping for the band to pull out all the stops instrumentally, build on to their usual sound and give us something more than just another doom metal dirge. The heaviness and length of the track, though, are pretty gratifying, and High on Fire is still undeniably sounding as killer as they ever have. Again, I think the record starts a bit stronger than it finishes, and I do wish they took a few more risks along the track list, maybe committed more to those Middle Eastern nods they were making at a few points. But cometh the Storm is another very solid addition to the High on Fire catalog as they continue to record some of the best and most powerful sludge that the genre has to offer with little in the way of competition standing in front of them, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent eight on this LP, Transition.

Have you given this album a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it? What would you rate it? You're the best, you're the best. What should I review next? Hit the like if you like. Please subscribe and please don't cry. Hit the bell as well. Over here next to my head is another video you can check out. Hit that up or a link to subscribe to the channel. Anthony Fantano, high on fire, forever.