In a way I’m the worst person to review a High on Fire record. As a diehard acolyte of recently reformed Sleep – HoF vocalist/guitarist Matt Pike’s other band – I feel High on Fire’s a bit of a distraction, like when David Lynch releases coffee and ringtones instead of making movies.
More than this, High on Fire’s records have a way of worming their way into the back of the brain after never really impressing on initial listens. Put it on, enjoy it enough and forget about it. Then five years later you’re humming the Snakes For The Divine riff while doing dishes. So it is with the band’s seventh record, which chugs and punches in a suitably heavy way without ever feeling essential.
In places, like The Falconist and The Cave (with Pike’s vocals dropping into a Lemmyish croon), it feels like Pike and Co. are toning down some of their more aggro, riff-raging tendencies, courting the pop-metal palatability of bands like Mastadon and the Sword. Still, opener The Black Plot, the title track and Slave The Hive feel like vintage HoF – the sorts of heavy-duty numbers you may forget about, only to find them looped in your head years later.
Top track: Slave The Hive