High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis

• Country: United States
• Style: Sludge metal / Stoner metal
• Label: eOne
• Release date: 3 April 2012

High On Fire’s sixth album borrows its title from a fictional grimoire invented by Robert Bloch and later absorbed into H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, and the lyrics run with it: time travel, a serum made from black lotus, the usual Matt Pike cosmology.

The more important change is behind the desk. Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou produced it at his GodCity studio in Salem, Massachusetts, and the trio – Pike, bassist Jeff Matz and drummer Des Kensel – has rarely sounded this physical on record.

“Serums of Liao” opens the album like a dropped engine block, with Kensel driving everything. “Fertile Green” is the closest thing here to straight thrash. Then “Madness of an Architect” slows everything to a heavy blues crawl, with Pike singing rather than barking. “King of Days” is the closest they come to a ballad, and it’s one of the best things here.

Ballou keeps the low end raw and lets the drums breathe, so the record feels live without being messy. It’s not the Motörhead-on-fire blur of their earlier work; it’s heavier, more patient, and better for it. One of the essential heavy records of 2012.

Best tracks:

Serums of Liao
Fertile Green
Madness of an Architect
King of Days

Author’s rating: 8.6/10