We all know what to expect from a High On Fire record by now, right? The trick Matt Pike et al. manage to pull off each and every time is that they give us exactly what we want, yet somehow make their particular brand of stoner doom neither boring nor predictable – it just rocks, hard. Cometh The Storm kicks off with the fury of a truly tempestuous one, and never lets up for the entirety of its hour long, riff-fuelled, haze-filled, fuzzed out ride.
Whether it is the Eastern tinges of opener ‘Lambsbread’, or the sheer weight of the title track as it builds and builds, marching on towards a roaring climax, the record is littered with many memorable moments. The short instrumental ‘Karanlık Yol’ adds more cultural flourishes, different viewpoints given the High On Fire treatment that stand out, but also fitting in at the same time. This stops it all sounding too homogenous, dangling those hooks we are oh so happy to hang ourselves from.
The one criticism you could level at the shorter tracks that fill up most of the back half of Cometh The Storm is that they feel a little basic compared to the snaking leviathans we were originally greeted with. Whilst the likes of ‘Sol’s Golden Curse’ and ‘Lightning Beard’ are still most certainly fun and furious blasts, songs that will be momentous live, there is an air of throwaway idea to them.
However, that goes out the window as the final masterpiece, ‘Darker Fleece’, unfurls its menacing tendrils. The beast swallows the listener up whole, dragging all back down into the swampy depths that High On Fire thrive in. A remarkable end to an outstanding addition to their exceptional discography, Cometh The Storm shows the flames still burn hot yet.
