The Oakland, California trio has delivered another outstanding album. The songs are thundering sludge/stoner metal with thick riffs and slicing guitar solos. High On Fire shows a lot of diversity on this CD as well. Everything is heavy, but they speed up the tempo on several tracks and really get the groove going. They also are able to ease up on the throttle and crank up the intensity with crushing doom metal. Even though the songs are really dense and heavy, there is still plenty of melody to make things memorable.
Death Is The Communion also showcases Middle Eastern sounds on a couple of songs and you'll hear acoustic guitar along with the traditional downtuned electrics. Vocalist/guitarist Matt Pike is the star of the show with his excellent guitar work and raspy vocals, which have really improved over the course of High On Fire's career. Some of the band's past albums have taken a while to grow on the listener, but this one grabs you right away and doesn't let go.
