Initial Impressions: High on Fire: De Vermis Mysteriis

I have been a fan of High on Fire since I first heard Death is this Communion.  Unfortunately something about their last album rubbed me the wrong way and I think it had to do with the production.  It just seemed too thin and clean for a band of this type.  The songs were great, the production was just kind of bad.  So I was hoping this time around for a meatier production to really bring out this band's strengths.  Luckily I got it this time around.

This is the High on Fire that I am a fan of.  Big, meaty, doomy-sounding riffs, rough and weathered vocals, and heavy pounding drums.  The band also does a very good job of keeping things interesting.  There is a lot of variety in the songs here.  One minute there will be a fast-paced crushing song and the next will be a much slower, but equally massively heavy track.

High on Fire has risen to the top of the stoner doom metal scene and with good reason.  They definitely show that reason here.  High on Fire do a great job of never really falling victim to some of the traps that other stoner doom metal bands do.  They change things up a bit and they never get into a long, drawn-out psychedelic segment.  They keep things interesting and therefore do not lose their listeners.

This is a return to form for High on Fire.  Their last album was good musically but was missing something on production.  This time around that issue has been fixed which has allowed the sound of the band to truly come through.  Definitely a good thing.