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Death Is This Communion
by High On Fire

High On Fire reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 80 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.2 out of 10
based on 11 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The fourth album for the Oakland, California metal band.

LABEL: Relapse
RELEASE DATE: 18 September 2007
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Rock, Metal

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

82
Pitchfork
If you aren't already in the know, though, let this serve as some sort of wakeup call to the Oakland band's best collection to date.
Read Full Review
80
The New York Times
The deeper you go into the record, the more reassured you become that these musicians know what they’re great at.
Read Full Review
80
Village Voice
DITC will still melt your speakers. Jack Endino's clean yet full-tilt production fills out the sound, but it's drummer Des Kensel's ability to push forward and hold back--not simply pound monochromatically from start to finish--that truly creates the thriving, volatile atmosphere here.
Read Full Review
80
Dusted Magazine
Matt Pike has changed over the years, though, and it hasn't hurt at all.
Read Full Review
80
PopMatters
The familiar sounds are thrilling enough, but the real treat on Death is This Communion is just how much variety the band brings into the music this time around.
Read Full Review
80
Blender
It's sharp and in your face, like a scimitar. [Oct 2007, p.110]
80
NOW Magazine
On their fourth album, the goal continues to be to outdo themselves in terms of heavier-than-thou riffs, thundering drums and ominous aggression.
Read Full Review
80
Mojo
High On Fire's fourth album sees them once again on thunderous form. [Nov 2007, p.95]
70
Drowned In Sound
Death Is This Communion slays in all the right places, but had it ventured into some of the wrong places we might’ve had an album really worth dribbling about.
Read Full Review
60
Q Magazine
The primitive beauty of Matt Pike's dense riffs and Des Kensel's tribal rhythms should ensure that the Foo Fighters' frontman usn't the only one falling in love with the Oakland trio.
60
Spin
The Bay Area band increase their stylistic range, with flashes of psychedelia, and creatively druggy overtones to balnce out the epic pummeling. [Oct 2007, p.104]

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mike P. gave it a10:
This album kicks ass. Their best one yet. I would highly recommend it to anyone who truly loves heavy metal. There is no fake kid shit here.

Henry H. gave it a10:
Better than the World Series, Desmond Kensel pounded a homerun in Boston at the Underground. Rain and old weather did not keep the public wanting to see HighonFire! The line of people would not leave after the full sign came on. The vibrations of Desmond's Drums could be heard over MIT campus that night! E=mc2 was the message pounded on the drums that dark and dreary night and student just echoed in their dorms the beat on their desks at 11:00PM. The Soundcraft K2 mixing board only reinforced what everyone could hear in Boston - -Fenway park was quiet that night, but the dull and rentless sound of the raindrops acted as background music to Desi's drums. The humidity was perfect too since a drought had come to an end and Desi's drums only echoed in Boston at 472 Massachuestts Ave.

Tom S. gave it a10:
Holy crap. Their best so far, in my ears. Album of the year - along with Om's Pilgrimage, I expect. Sleep still rules, by proxy.

john p. gave it a10:
HOF get better and more refined with time. All of their albums are mind blowing. This one, however is their masterpiece. The best riffs since classic Black Sabbath, bar none. Add elements of Celtic Frost, Motorhead(most notably on the old school thrasher "Rumors of War'') and Slayer. Matt Pike has outdone himself as the stoner metal god of the riff.This trio could very well be the best metal band on the planet.

Chris C gave it a10:
Uhh...if you actually *read* the part of the website that talks about the formula, you'll see that all scores are moved away from the average to increase the spread. Some people, you know, actually do research before they act like dicks about something.

dss sss gave it a0:
go back to mathclass you fucking retaahds. The highest review here is an 80 and it has a metascore of 81. U GOT A FUCKING AGENDA OR WHAT BITCH.

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