High On Fire - Cometh The Storm Review

With their ninth album Cometh The Storm, High On Fire have awakened from their nearly 6 year slumber. This is be the band’s first recorded material not to feature long time drummer Des Kensel who left the band in 2019 and was replaced with Coady Willis.

Willis makes a notably large impression on album opener “Lambsbread,” absolutely attacking his drum kit while main man Matt Pike throws in some eastern flavor in his guitar work to make their brand of stoner doom all that more unique.

High on Fire have seemingly gone back to what sounds more in line with classic albums Blessed Black Wings and Death Is This Communion with Cometh The Storm, bringing with it massive riffs and crushing solos such as those that are contained within “Burning Down” and “Trismegistus” which make an immediate impact, something that may have been a bit lacking on their previous record Electric Messiah.

“Cometh The Storm” has a slower paced feel in comparison to the earlier parts of the record and “Sol’s Golden Curse” feels like the best possible combination of Pike’s speedy solos in conjunction with the rhythm provided by both Willis and bassist Jeff Matz. Each member is helping to play in unison and being valued for their individual contributions to the track.

Following a meaty middle section of the album, “The Beating” and “Tough Guy” are much more bite-sized and compare favorably with “Devilution” and “Fury Whip” from some of their biggest records. High on Fire can still be themselves within the context of very different songs style-wise and still remain a singular entity.

The album ends to the sounds of the epic “Darker Fleece” which is a shade under 10 minutes and a long, slow burn chock full of herculean riffs and layers heaviness provided by each of the band’s members, helping to bring the album to a proper close.

High on Fire remain one of the genre’s most notable bands over 25 years into their career and it doesn’t hurt when Matt Pike is your main driving force and guitar player. He can find a riff for just about any situation.

This is an excellent album that has been in the works for a while and the great care and curation used to finely craft it should be evident to both casual fans and devotees. Cometh The Storm is the band’s finest work in nearly a decade and a contender for one of 2024’s best.

(released April 19, 2024 on MNRK Heavy)