Known for their devastating blend of thrash and sludge metal, High on Fire is firing on all cylinders on their just-released album Cometh The Storm. The band, featuring founding guitarist and vocalist Matt Pike, bassist Jeff Matz, and new drummer Coady Willis (of Melvins, Big Business fame) sounds tighter than ever, with producer Kurt Ballou capturing their raw energy perfectly.
In a recent interview with New Noise Magazine, both Matz and Willis discussed the album, with Matz highlighting the title track, "Cometh The Storm" as a standout. He praises the song's heaviness and particularly Matt Pike's vocal performance, calling the contrast between the atmospheric verses and the crushing chorus "a sledgehammer to the chest."
"The title track for me is a pretty special one. I think it's really heavy. I think that's probably my favorite of Matt's vocal performances on the album. I really like the vocal melody. I really like the contrast between the atmospheric toned-down verse part and when the chorus comes in, it's like a sledgehammer to the chest. I really like the album as a whole, I think there are some great songs on it, but that's probably my favorite out of the batch. Today, at least," Matz explained.
New drummer Coady Willis echoed Matz's sentiment, emphasizing the song's dynamic range and the massive bass sound that "wipes you out completely."
"I agree with Jeff; in listening to the song post-mastering and listening in the car and different environments, I think that song works really well dynamically. When the chorus drops it's just impressively massive, the bass sound especially just really wipes you out completely. There's a lot of good stuff."
Willis also opened up about a personal struggle during the recording of "The Beating" and "Tough Guy," a two-part song on the album. While initially frustrated with his performance on "Tough Guy," Willis revealed how the band reworked the song, resulting in a final product that "came out great" and is "really fun."
"The song that I'm happiest with how it turned out versus how I was feeling about it in the studio was the two songs put together, 'The Beating' and 'Tough Guy'. It was one of those songs where I felt like we had it dialed in before we went and then when we got into the studio, when I was tracking the drums for 'Tough Guy,' which is the second half of it, I was tired and feeling frustrated and was just trying to do my best," Willis explained.
"We figured out that the way we were playing the song just wasn't working right. The drum part that I had wasn't really hitting with the riff the way it was supposed to and I was upset about it. We ended the day on that note like, “We'll come back and get it tomorrow” and I was feeling frustrated and bummed out."
"I think we had a break in between; we kind of did the recording in two legs where we stopped after a couple of weeks and flew back to Portland to play a show and then came back to finish it. I think we came back from that and took another swing at that one and it felt way better, It just kind of locked in. Then when we put the two songs together, I felt like it came out great. At first glance it's like a rocker, blasting A-B song, but I really like how it came out. The energy is really good, and it's really fun. I'm just glad that it came out the way it did versus how I was feeling about it in the studio. It came across in the final product."
