High On Fire Unveil Cover Artwork for New Album “Snakes For The Divine”

World-renowned power trio HIGH ON FIRE has completed work on its long-awaited, fifth studio album and follow-up to 2007’s Death is This Communion. Titled Snakes for the Divine, the record will drop on February 23, 2010 via E1 Music.

The cover artwork for Snakes for the Divine has been unveiled. Brought to life by longtime HIGH ON FIRE cover artist Arik Moonhawk Roper, the stunning album art is a visual interpretation of the album’s enigmatic title.

Recorded at The Pass Studios in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, Snakes for the Divine is HIGH ON FIRE’s magnum opus, capturing every nuance of the legendary band’s ongoing musical progression and evolution into one of heavy music’s all time greats. Sharper, faster and darker than anything the group has ever recorded, Snakes for the Divine is an unrelenting tour de force, showcasing cult guitar hero Matt Pike’s utterly unique and inventive musicianship and the band’s epic, thundering sound. Premium production by Fidelman – the man who produced Slayer’s “World Painted Blood” and is mixing the upcoming Metallica live album – boosts HIGH ON FIRE’s strength and power while blackened lyrical tales of ancient wars, frozen planets and doomed societies emerge from Pike’s bellowing barks and throaty war cries. From the moment the leviathan-like title track explodes to kick off the album, it is immediately evident that HIGH ON FIRE is determined to push modern heavy metal into new and uncharted realms.

The track listing for HIGH ON FIRE’s Snakes for the Divine is as follows:

1.) “Snakes for the Divine”
2.) “Frost Hammer”
3.) “Bastard Samurai”
4.) “Ghost Neck”
5.) “Fire, Flood & Plague”
6.) “How Dark We Pray”
7.) “Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter”
8.) “Mystery of Helm”

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 is fronted by Matt Pike, a founding member of the famed underground band SLEEP and one of heavy music’s most charismatic figures. In 2007, Pike was named one of Rolling Stone’s “New Guitar Gods”. Among its many career accomplishments, HIGH ON FIRE (along with Mastodon) was among the first underground metal acts this decade to garner positive critical acclaim from mainstream media outlets outside of heavy metal circles, a trend that continues to this day. The band has released a string of highly regarded full length albums including The Art of Self Defense (2000), Surrounded by Thieves (2002) and 2005’s Blessed Black Wings.

In addition to Pike, HIGH ON FIRE features drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz.

“HIGH ON FIRE is the sludgy resin from 30 years of super-hard-rock history transubstantiated into three men from Oakland with low-slung jeans” – THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Like CREAM on a rocket to hell. HIGH ON FIRE dish out low-frequency terror that turns your innards to black tar.” – ROLLING STONE

“Massive riffs and tribal drumming…galloping-mammoth metal” –SPIN

“HIGH ON FIRE are either the new BLACK SABBATH or the new MOTORHEAD — or both — depending on who you ask” – ALTERNATIVE PRESS

“Bleak grooves and tooth-cracking clatter…strong indeed” – THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Working at the fringes of stoner/doom metal, HIGH ON FIRE are as powerful and gargantuan a threesome as metal has produced.” – PITCHFORK

“Exhilarating” – DECIBEL

“Unbelievably heavy…massive crunching riffs and drums that slam like vault doors” – REVOLVER

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Press Release

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za
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