Matt Pike is pretty much a latter-day stoner rock legend; his seminal band Sleep's Jerusalem is a hallowed, single 52-minute monolith of sludgy riffage. But his work in High On Fire has consistently been more and more aggressive with each new release, trading the molasses haze of dope for an athletic adrenaline. Death Is This Communion is yet another example of his exceptional skill at wrenching primal ferocity from the guitar, and his vicious bandmates never miss a chance to help him pummel a point home. Er, and by that I mean, it tears the flesh clean off your bones. You dig Mastodon? You'll love this.