“Cometh the Storm” is the ninth full length studio album from HIGH ON FIRE. It is their first full-length album in six years not counting their 2019 EP which featured two covers. If you went to a PR firm and asked for advice on how to stage a comeback album after six years of silence, this is the type of album they would recommend you produce. HIGH ON FIRE delivers on the promise of album title, hearkening a storm of Stoner/Doom/Sludge that will destroy your speaker system and get you blacklisted from taking over the playlist at the next family outing.

The first thing I noticed about this album was the PR engine working behind it. I mean this album already has its own Wikipediae entry and was reviewed in Forbes. I’m pretty sure HIGH ON FIRE has successfully escaped the underground. That escape may not have been without casualties as one of the founding members, Des Kensel (drums), has left the group replaced by Coady Willis (BIG BUSINNESS, THE MURDER CITY DOLLS, MELVINS). I can’t say there is a notable difference either to the positive or the negative. Coady seems to fit the HIGH ON FIRE groove quite well.

“Cometh the Storm” comprises 11 tracks and clocks out at just under 58 minutes. While there are plenty of straightforward Stoner/Doom tracks, which you’d expect from this Sludge monolith, there are also several eccentric pieces including a Turkish instrumental, “Karanlık Yol” (trans: dark way), that lands near mid-album. Can’t say that I was expecting that one, although the previous track, “Cometh the Storm,” does have some flourishes that are arguably Eastern as well. “The Beating” qualifies as another curious track. It's as savage as it is frenetic with a crazed jazz-on-crack vibe. Avant-garde gone Death if you will. And please note that eccentric doesn’t mean flawed. In fact, it often indicates growth and exploration. The truth is these tracks save the album from being stale and predictable.

Another piece that doesn’t quite fit the mold is “Hunting Shadows.” I honestly don’t know what to think about this track. To my ears it lands somewhere between ‘trying too hard’ and ‘middle of the road.’ If that sounds disheartening and makes you wonder if the band has lost its way, don’t fret. The final track, “Darker Fleece,” takes listeners on a ten-minute, sludge-laden trudge through the swamps. Kind of homecoming, this track.

If you come to “Cometh the Storm” looking for status quo, you might be disappointed. There is something different going on here. Nothing too out of bounds, but definitely a new twist to an old game.