Review Summary: Hell on Earth
From the start of its opening drum fill,
De Vermis Mysteriis sounds like a High on Fire reborn. Their previous album,
Snakes for the Divine was unavoidably tepid, seemingly drained of all energy by the slick fingers of producer Greg Fidelman. There has always been an air about High on Fire that makes one feel as though they're gazing through the haze of a crystal ball filled with weed smoke into whatever strange tales vocalist/guitarist Matt Pike has though up of this time, but
Snakes was too clear in its approach, stripping the stoner power-trio of the sludge and mire that is essential to such a hulking approach. In the end it begged the question was it just a misstep or had Pike finally started to lose his edge. Within seconds
De Vermis Mysteriis instantly erases any and all questions caused by
Snakes of the Divine. This time paired with Converge's Kurt Ballou at the helm, High on Fire have released their most visceral album to date. Building off of the gnarled atmosphere of high octane fuzz and a rush-of-blood-to-the-head intensity not seen since
Blessed Black Wings barnstormers like “Commeth Down Hessian”, only now even more immediate,
De Vermis Mysteriis is the shining culmination of High on Fire's career to this point. Ballou's thick and gritty production perfectly compliments the crushing slabs of megalithic riffs that Pike builds ever higher and ever heavier throughout the album's 52 minute run time, with tracks like the roaring “Bloody Knuckles” and the inescapable Motorhead gone tribal groove of “Spiritual Rites” proving once and for all that when firing on all cylinders High on Fire are an untouchable force in stoner metal.
Delving deeper into the madness that is
De Vermis Mysteriis, “King of Days” sounds as if it was born out of the recent reuniting of Pike's former flame, stoner-sludge titans Sleep. Its methodical drone and lonely lead work is more akin to something found Warning's trad-doom masterpiece
Watching From a Distance but this respite is pulled of without a hitch which, along with the Kylesa swamp-prog-esque interlude “Samsara, adds a wonderful sense of flow and balance to the record. The Sleep influenced sound can also be seen heavily in
De Vermis Mysteriis' latter cuts, especially in the penultimate title track and the closing “Warhorn”. “Warhorn” is High on Fire at their most down tempo and guttural. Its thundering coalescing of distraught sludgy chords and powerful plodding drums ends the album by taking a trip through quicksand while wearing lead boots. It's disgusting. It's massive. It's f
ucking incredible.
De Vermis Mysteriis is the album that High On Fire have always been hinting that they could create. It is a ferocious and captivating listen that twists and turns through the deepest darkest depths all the while pushing forward into new sonic territory.
Blessed Black Wings and
Death Is This Communion were great, but this...
this is something special.
