High on Fire took their sweet time getting this record recorded and released, and it is well worth the wait. If Lemmy sang for heyday-era Slayer, they might sound like this, though Matt Pike’s hell-fire fret-shredding, monolithic riffs, and barbed-wire growls are second to none. “Frost Hammer” sounds just enough like “Angel of Death” (that breakdown is sick in the same way) and more than enough like High on Fire to make it a worthy replacement for the former. Adding Snakes for the Divine to their already hefty body of work, High on Fire might just be the best metal band working today. (Sorry, Mastodon.)

—Roy Christopher, 27 March 2010