Well, the title above sounded too exaggerated, I admit it, but all I remember is the philosophy “bombastic title steals the attention”. Attention means high rating and circulation. So here we are now, I hope the title can really describe the whole content of this writing. Actually, the word “Return” on the title above is not appropriate since this band is never going anywhere. They don’t sleep and still reigning the land of stoner doom metal. We are talking about High on Fire.
It’s no longer a secret that on 23rd of February, California’s High on Fire will officially release their fifth studio album entitled Snakes for the Divine. Then, all major online music stores have featured their album as “pre-order”. High on Fire brought changes toward their newest album except for their cover artist which is still handed to Arik Roper – their long time favorite artist who did their previous album covers.
Snakes for the Divine is released under E1 Music that is probably not too familiar for most metalheads if we compared it to giant’s lair Relapse Records. Controversy then emerged. The producer, Greg Fidelman, who also produced Slayer’s World Painted Blood, is claimed to be unable to handle High on Fire’s visionary materials although the members refused to comment further about this.
Their 2007’s Death is This Communion so far is their “sign of maturity” especially for Matt Pike who has been “in doom” for many years. Jack Endino was pointed to be the “executor” of the magnum opus since Blessed Black Wings was released. And we are all agree with that. Death is This Communion is their epic sophomore.
If Death is This Communion is their peak of exhibiting skills and ability to “mix and matching” many musical elements, then Snakes for the Divine is their turning point where Pike is trying to go back to where they belong with lyrics about ancient wars. Their first single for Snakes for the Divine had been officially released under Stereogum.com entitled Frost Hammer. Their live performances that cover this track have been around in Youtube since 2009 and gained high ratings and thousands “view” numbers. Frost Hammer is enriched with classic riffs and breakneck drumming speed in vein of old Slayer, Celtic Frost, and early Hellhammer. This formula is still the best and lethal.
Despite all the “banned and curses” from the so-called die hard fans. We should not take those things into consideration if you called yourself a true metalhead. 2 years in the studio is not merely short times and High on Fire really did their best, well at least they tried to do the best. Snakes for the Divine contains 8 tracks that will bring you to the ancient metal riffs to commemorate the glory years of stoner doom. No bullshit groovy breaks, just crude tribal drumming and SAVAGE Cro-Magnon riffs.
Prepare yourself and your pocket and start counting down to the release date. I’d love to pre-order now, but I prepare myself for Grief – And the Man Will Become the Hunted LP because it is limited to 666 copies. So I think I’ll pick Snakes…sometime.
