UMUR Surrounded by Thieves is the 2nd full-length studio album by American Stoner/ doom metal act High on Fire. The band is still a power trio just as they were on the debut album The Art of Self Defense (2000). Matt Pike handles both the guitar and the lead vocal duties. George Rice plays the bass while the drums are played by Des Kensel. Surrounded by Thieves was High on Fire´s first release on Relapse Records.

Surrounded by Thieves pretty much continue where The Art of Self Defense (2000) left off. Dirty stoner/ doom metal with some great attitude laden angry vocals by Matt Pike. The riffs are heavy yet rythmic and groovy. The perfect marriage between old school doom metal and hard rock. The songs sound a bit too much the same IMO but there are some really strong tracks on the album like The Yeti and Thraft of Caanan.

The production is raw and even more murky and noisy than was the case on the debut album. It suits the filthy rock´n´roll attitude perfectly but sometimes the soundscape is actually a bit too murky for my taste.

Surrounded by Thieves is a worthy follow up to The Art of Self Defense, but it doesn´t expand that much on the concept of its predecessor and I actually prefer the debut over this one. Still a 3 star rating is deserved for a good album.