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I haven't heard a Sanhedrin album since reviewing their debut, A Funeral for the World, back in 2018, but now I have their fourth album, Heat Lightning, and have been spinning it the last several days to hear what the band has been up to. There are some high points, like the excellent guitar tone on the opener, "Blind Wolf" and the flowing, doomy songwriting on "When the Will Becomes the Chain," all muscled through the speakers by singer Erica Stoltz' booming bellow. However, other parts of Heat Lightning are characterized by not much more than chugging, simple riffs and hard rock attitude. There are some odd, out-of-the-box lyrical choices, like the "Robert Johnson, sold my soul to the devil" vibe on "Fight of Your Life" and the youthful party/coming of age story on "Franklin County Line," which wouldn't be all that out of place on a Molly Hatchet album. Not your typical heavy metal subject matter but certainly different. None of the songs are bad (sure, a few are bland, like "King of Tides") but nothing is amazing, either, even with the elements that buck the existing norms. What I expected was some pummeling, rocking heavy metal or crushing doom and while it does have some character, I find Heat Lightning dull.