High on Fire : "Cometh the Storm"

It's been 6 years since "Electric Messiah". Since then they have been joined by Big Business drummer Coady Willis. The bar is low for them here, as they have never scored higher than a 7.5.  They rely more upon a rumbling chug and are not dark or melodic enough for me. Always sounded like they took the stoner rock DNA and mixed it with Motorhead and Venom, in a manner that is not all that original. Things have changed this time around. Perhaps Pike's sobriety factors in. But I hear another influence, which makes perfect sense, after all, Matt Pike is close friends with Brent Hinds. Imagine them hanging out and one day a newly sober Piek thinks, well if they can play big places to a larger audience, I could as well, after all, it's not a huge leap, just groove a little more. To the record label, this is a reason to celebrate. 

The album opens with a more grooving sludge that recalls old Mastodon, with little of the Motorhead punk drive. In fact, it's s not until "Trismestigus" that I hear any of the old Motorhead rumbles. I imagine the song is about Hermes. It's a dense hammering wall of chugs, that obscures the roar of the vocals so he might be about as informed of the founder of  Hermetic magic as Ozzy was of the O.T.O when he wrote "Mr. Crowley". The answer here is not at all. Making it a clever metal occult namedrop. The title track benefits from their new drummer, as Pike makes more of an effort to sing. These factors help give me more of the brooding tension I want from heavy music.  

After an excursion into Middle Eastern music, they return to hammering you with the overdriven wall of sound. There is a surmounting tension to its drive. "the Beating' finds them back to the kind of more punk-leaning attack that prompts the Venom and Motorhead comparisons. "Tough Guy" is a step in the more metal direction, but it is also a rather straightforward pounding, with the growl of the vocals not contributing a great deal.  Though it is much more deliberate than much of what I have heard in the past from these guys.  If you stepped on the gas while playing "Orgasmatron" the results might be similar to "Lightning Beard". 

He makes another attempt at singing on "Hunting Shadows", which gallops closer to a more traditional metal with its brazen howl. The album closes with a ten-minute epic that is "Darker Fleece".  It hangs on a rumbling riff that trudges in a monolithic drone. Six minutes and I am wondering when they are going to switch it up. They don't. Regardless , this might be the most accessible to work, and showcases more thoughtful songwriting, so all the inspiration paid off I will give them an 8.5, which doesn't make this a top-tier legend of an album, but it does make it their best work yet. 

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Mutoid Man : "Mutants"

 Cave-In vocalist/guitarist Stephen Brodsky, is releasing the 3rd full-length from his sludge-tinged rock band. Joining him again is Converge drummer Ben Koller, who has been on board since the project's inception. This time around High On Fire bassist Jeff Matz is in the band. There is a rock feel thanks to Brodsky's smooth vocal delivery, but ample bout of math rock in collision with punk energy. The second song employs much more speed than the opener, though both songs have their share of twists and turns. There is a doomier feel to "Broken Glass Ceiling".  They share some common ground sonically with Queens of the Stoneage in this regard. The chorus is not that hooky, though the verses have a pretty cool riff. The rule around here is cool riffs alone do not a good song make. The end of this song builds into harder snarled vocals. 

There is more of a stoner rock feel to "Siren Song".  This song might have some of the album's best melodies, though we are only four songs into the album at this point. There is a classic metal feel in how the vocals ride the guitars, without being overtly dramatic. "Graveyard Love" is more rock in its Van Halen-like boogie. "Unborn" opens with a pretty sweet grooving riff and interesting sounds, but as the song progresses these get coiled around themselves amid the jammy nature of the song. Perhaps the math just gets too complicated for their own good, as it's more effective when things break down to a tense chug. 

"Siphon" has a pretty mean chug, that was working well enough for it, until they decided to go and complicate things. It is not a deal breaker, but this could have been a headbanger all the way through. Instead, it feels more like Mastodon without the guitar solos. "Demons" rocks out like Kyuss at first before they have a spastic burst of arrangements. On one hand, they are cramming more into the three minutes they are compressing these songs into. Then on the other, the question must be asked ...does it need to be crammed in there? More importantly, does it mean they are not playing "Stonehenge" tonight? 

The answer I have come to is not get my hopes up at the onset of "Memory Hole" as they are going to eventually jerk it around into something crazy.  I begin to relax midway in when this has yet to occur. They do go off into a guitar solo, which is fine, I prefer it to take this to a crazy punk place. I think whatever conclusions you draw about their songwriting , no one is going to dispute if Ben Koller can play drums or not, in fact he establishes himself as one of the best here. The last  song "Setting Son" is almost six minutes long, so I am preparing myself for whatever they are going to throw at me, even after the two minute jammed intro. They chorus is not the album's hookiest , but works for what they are doing. They fall somewhere between 80s-themed stoner metal and prog on this one. Baroness would be a fair point of reference for the Sonic zip code they are cruising down. I will give this album a 9 and see how it grows on me. I like the direction they are heading in here and it's their most promising work to date. 

High On Fire :"Electric Messiah"

They are not fucking around here. They kick the door down and roaring full speed ahead like a more hardcore version of Motorhead. I prefer the less punk and more deliberate "Steps of Ziggurat". Even then there is a lot of heavy going on , but this is not their finest hour in terms of songwriting. This one feels like it doesn't develop much until the last minute. There are guitar solos flying everywhere and the riffs are pretty mean, but cool riffs alone doesn't make a good song. The title track finds them throwing themselves into the more rapid thrash attack of the bands Motorhead side. There is more substance to "Sanctioned Annihilation". It is slower than the previous song. The chords ring out to create a darker sound. Pike's vocals are yelled in the same gritty bellow. The tempo changes and at ten minutes the song has room to sprawl out and explore.

"The Pallid" mask is heavy and the guitars are dense, however it just sounds like drunk post apocalyptic pirates making noise. "God of the Godless" has more groove and feels like they have an intended destination in mind. Though they could drone on this for the entire five minutes. Instead, they opt for the punk Motorhead mode. "Freebooter" might be the album's fastest song for the first minute and a half, but when it slows down for a few bars it feels more alive. This could be any thrash revival band that started off more punk than metal. This album is all about the guitar solos though.  "the Witch and the Christ" is a darker more intense take on their Motorhead side. It has more of a sludge attack that reminds me of Mastodon. Four minutes in it begins to bore me. It's not a bad song it's just too long to keep me interested.

They have a knack for always ending the album with the best song. "Drowning Dog" is no exception. It is more traditional metal, so think the older Iron Maiden meets Motorhead. The vocals are somewhat more sung than barked. The whole flow of the song, while at a moderate thrash tempo doesn't sacrifice aggression for melody. So they can pull it off they are happier stomping through muddy water. I'll give this album a 7, if you read this review then you can put two and two together in regards to what I did not like about the album. It sounds good and is heavy, so that should satisfy the bulk of a fan base I am not numbered among.

Sleep : "the Sciences"

Now that the smoke cleared from 4-20 we can now take a look at the first album in two decades from Sleep. If you are new to stoner metal and just crawling out from under a mushroom, then you might know guitarist Matt Pike from this other band called High On Fire. Al Cisneros who handles the vocals has also played in OM and this time they have the drummer from Neurosis sitting behind the drums. I'll go ahead and warn you that the first song is just feed back and distortion and not really a song at all, though it might scare you. However they have been kind enough buds to let you known when it's safe to listen by including the sound of a water bong being fired up. The vocals come across a little different than I remember. They are lower and not as soaked in effects.

I think  Jason Roeder's playing sparks new life into their overall sound. The lumbering thunder stirred up make "Sonic Titan" a fitting name for the song. I prefer the grooving movement of " Marijuanauts Theme", but if you are into stoner doom then this is the kind of volume intensive battery you are looking. The bass tone is thick and nasty as it should be, with fuzz coating your brain with every note. They wait for six minutes to bring in the vocals on "Sonic Titan" so have retained the jam like quality their brand of bong worshiping lends itself to.The album is produced in a way that begs to be played at maximum volume. It does have a dynamic ebb and flow as "Antarcticans Thawed" begins in a more subtle fashion with room to breathe in the chilly vibe. Four minutes into the song and it's not to bob your head along.

The albums  third act finds their slow incorporation of melodic embellishments beginning to peak. "Giza Butler" has a more sinewy slither to it's narcotic pulse. It's rides on this until builds up to gallop across the desert in the last minute. If you are into guitar solos "The Botanist" puts a David Gilmore like blazer into the spotlight. Matt Pike has become a better guitarist over the years and this will only push his status as such further into consciousness of the general metal populous. Is this worth a two decade wait ? Is anything ? It does a good job of picking up where they left off. With these guys older and wiser the results doesn't come short of them proving themselves capable of sitting along side the like of Kyuss in the smoky halls of stoner metal royalty. I'll give this one a 9 and see how it sits with me though due to the rambling length of the songs I am not sure how much air time this will get .

High On Fire : "Luminiferous"

I have never been huge into these guys. they have been too meat and potatoes for me. I caught them back in 2004ish when Planesmistakenforstars opened for them, and was less than impressed. I  have grown to appreciate them more as their musicianship and song have grown over the years.The opener reminds me of "Leave No Cross Unturned" by Darkthrone. Matt Pike seems to be singing more than roars, but this is marginal. The song hammers like a freight train. There is more a sludge groove to the second that is more rock n roll n the same sense Clutch is rock n roll. Thick stoned distortion too up tempo to be doom. On their last album they reminded me of a mix of Motorhead and Venom, here it is more like old Mastodon with out any of the guitar tricks.

The song "the Sunless Years" blunders by with volume and fury, but is otherwise rather dull. There is more thundering overblown rock n roll being pounded out on "Slave the Hive". Some typical yet well played guitar solos crop and I am beginning to think their last album was better, as it had more sonic depth. What you hear is what you get . There are no surprises. A break down here and there, but more meat and potatoes. The rule cool riffs alone don't make a good song hits these guys hard. Though the chug to "the Falconist" works well with the almost Thin Lizzy like swagger of the vocals. At times I begin to wonder if this more streamlined and accessible song with an emphasis placed on the vocals is their stab at following in Mastodon's footsteps. What this band does best is fully realized on "The Dark Side of the Compass". The riff is big and driving, but it works well for the song to form around it. The chorus has grit, but also tangible melody. The drummer pulls all of this together with his best playing to date.

They pulls a surprisingly melodic song out of nowhere with "the Cave" that sounds like Neurosis playing an upbeat version of "Planet Caravan". They dynamics are just right. While some of their older fans might balk at this, there is no denying this is a good song. The album does seem like it is improving as it progresses. The drum come in with sweeping tom rolls on the title track. It drives ahead like newer Slayer and is heavy, but also one dimensional, with a ridiculous solo. They bring the album to an end with the more Sabbath like doom of "the Lethal Chamber", that finds it's way into a more Celtic Frost groove. I like the effects that show up on the vocals from time to time. They loose what is working when the song speeds up, but it's still listenable. I might stick around when I go see Pallbearer open up for them, but I'll give this album a 7.5 these guys are still a band I will only catch when they have openers I actually like, but they have show some improvement when it comes to writing actual songs.