High on Fire is, above all, a force of nature named Matt Pike. Former Sleep guitarist and cult figure of underground metal, the Californian musician has, since the early 2000s, led this power trio of raw might, a crossing of sludge, stoner and thrash. Cometh the Storm, their first album since a change of drummer, proves the machine has lost none of its ferocity.
The critics (an 81 average across eight reviews) hail a massive, rough record, faithful to an aesthetic the band have never disowned. One finds again the abrasive riffs, Pike’s rasping voice, that sensation of being crushed beneath a moving steamroller.
Musically, High on Fire cultivate variety within brutality: crushing doom passages, thrash accelerations, more atmospheric, even Orientalising incursions on certain tracks. The arrival of the new drummer breathes fresh energy in, without distorting the band’s identity.
One might object that the record invents nothing, and that High on Fire dig a now-familiar furrow. Its sonic density, at times monolithic, also demands endurance. But the conviction never falters, and the energy stays contagious.
Verdict: 8/10. A powerful, uncompromising record, confirming High on Fire as one of the immovable pillars of American heavy metal.
