Album Review: High On Fire

High On Fire may have been the gods of sludge metal over the past decade, and may have created a killer album in 2005's Blessed Black Wings, but things change. Bands such as Baroness and Kylesa have taken their blueprint for bone-crunching riffs, crashing drums, bowel-clenching bass and guttural vocals, all tied together in a jaw-dropping compositional double-helix of execution, and used it like the Biblical Ten Commandments, etched in stone tablets and brandished at the height of an electrical storm. These bands are at their height of their game, and so it could be surmised that High On Fire are at the end of theirs.

De Vermis Mysteriis proves that the Oakland power trio are undeniably the kings of the game.

From the opening seconds of Serums Of Liao, the opening track of their sixth album, High On Fire announce their return to their devastating mores. Aided by the relentless production values applied by Kurt Ballou (Torche/Converge), De Vermis Mysteriis offers a sound that is cavernous in sound, yet manages to balance their incendiary live shows with the fluid instrumentation their compositions showcase. The truly impressive nature of the album though is how seamless the tonal shifts are. Where other bands' attempts at changing the modus operandi could sound trite, here it is organic. The most notable track in this vein is Madness Of An Architect, slowing things down to a doom-metal dirge with an insane guitar solo at its core. Instrumental Samsara also segues into a grinding groove, yet it complements the pummelling that emanates from Bloody Knuckles and its ilk.

The virtuoso brutality on display on De Vermis Mysteriis is something that has rarely been touched upon.