Oakland metallers HIGH ON FIRE have commenced work on their fifth studio album and follow-up to 2007’s Death Is This Communion.

The band just completed pre-production with producer Greg Fidelman (METALLICA, SLAYER, JOHNNY CASH) and has now entered The Pass Studios in Los Angeles with the goal of capturing “the ultimate High On Fire experience.”

The new High On Fire album is slated for an early 2010 release via E1 Music.

A new images of High On Fire hard at work on their new album can be viewed on the left (click to enlarge). The still was brought to life by photographer Andrew Stuart.

Universally recognized as one of the most potent acts in music today, High On Fire creates “bad-ass” modern metal that merges primal fury and aggression, skyscraping riff explosions and hesher bombast with a monolithic heaviness. Described as “a supersonic exercise in conquest by volume and sheer heaviness,” High On Fire has burned the hard rock rulebook since its formation in 1998, forging a style and sound that is both unique and absolutely crushing.

The group features vocalist and cult guitar hero Matt Pike, powerhouse drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz. Pike, a founding member of the famed underground band SLEEP and one of heavy music’s most charismatic figures was named as one of Rolling Stone’s “New Guitar Gods”.

“Pre-production on the new record went great!” states High On Fire drummer Des Kensel. “It really gave us the chance to make some last minute adjustments before we started tracking. We've never been able to do that before and know this will make a huge difference overall. We can't believe the way everything has fallen into place for this record! Hopefully our fans will be excited as we are once they hear the new material.”

Starting October 2nd, High On Fire teams up with Atlanta’s MASTODON and DETHKLOK - the animated death metal band from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse – for a massive seven week North American tour. The tour will kick off on October 2nd in Portland, OR and bring mayhem and destruction to local venues throughout the nation. Adding even more layers to this fall’s top metal tour, CONVERGE will open each show.

A full listing of dates is as follows:

October

2 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
3 - Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater
4 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre
6 - Calgary, AB - Big Four Building
7 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Centre
9 - Salt Lake City, UT - Great Saltair
10 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
12 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
13 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
14 - Des Moines, IA - Val Air Ballroom
16 - St. Paul, MN - Myth
17 - Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL
18 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagle's Auditorium
20 - Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion
21 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
23 - Toronto , ON - Sound Academy
24 - Buffalo, NY - The Fairgrounds
25 - Albany, NY - Armory
27 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
30 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
31 - Washington, DC - Patriot Center

November

1 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
5 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
6 - Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues
7 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
8 - Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheatre
11 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
12 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater
13 - Austin, TX - Austin City Music Hall
14 - Tulsa, OK - Brady Theater
16 - Las Cruces, NM - Pan American Center
17 - Mesa, AZ - Mesa Amphitheater
18 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
19 - Los Angeles, CA - Palladium