High on fire-Death is this communion

Relapse
2007

It's been three years since High on fire's last effort.The new release pretty much just picks up on the same trail of the prior release. It's like a cross between Motorhead and Slayer with occasional flashes of Celtic Frost and even Matt Pike's previous band Sleep. The tone is largely heavy and moody and at times there is a rather massive feel to their approach. In some ways they are very much one of the best examples of a real metal band that is going on today. They predominately stick to the medium fast tempo songs and it's largely pure metal without pretences of trying or even wanting to be anything else. I can appreciate that and it's good to have a band that has become as reliable at plying their trade as High on fire have become. Yet I couldn't help but be a little disappointed that this release didn't see the band push beyond their standards a little. Yes, it's a fine album, but I was really expecting them to explode at this point. Instead it was more of a constant high simmer than a boil. They sometimes got to the fringes of doing something spectacular, but they quite exploded like I was hoping they would. Maybe my expectations are a bit too, but that's what was going through my mind while listening to this album. It's a fine album that manages combine elements of doom, speed and classic metal. It's crushing at times, but never quite pulls off unexpected. They don't compromise anything which is commendable yet they still have yet to produce a great album because this one is once again just good. It's likely a top twenty of the year and it get repeated plays from me in the upcoming weeks, but I was hoping they would stretch their wings out just a tad more.