Snakes for the Divine
2010 studio album by High on Fire
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Snakes for the Divine is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band High on Fire.
| Snakes for the Divine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 23, 2010 | |||
| Studio | The Pass Studios (Los Angeles) | |||
| Genre | Stoner metal, sludge metal, thrash metal | |||
| Length | 45:55 | |||
| Label | E1 Music | |||
| Producer | Greg Fidelman | |||
| High on Fire chronology | ||||
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History and recording
Snakes for the Divine was recorded at The Pass Studios in Los Angeles[1] with producer Greg Fidelman. The album cover art and track listing were revealed on the band's Myspace page on January 6, 2010. The album was released on February 23 through E1 Music.
Theme
In an interview, frontman Matt Pike stated: "The title 'Snakes for the Divine' is based on the premise that Adam and Eve weren't the first people on Earth, and Adam having a wife that was a Reptilian named Lilith. They were the first two people to take the reptilian DNA, and make shape-shifting human beings that go between the fourth-dimensional, the Anunnaki, and human beings. Eventually, from ancient Mesopotamia, this spawned a thing called the Illuminati - the enlightened ones - coming up through the centuries, and choosing the kings, controlling your media, controlling your banking, blah blah blah. It's just theory at most points. I thought it'd make a great metal song, so I just went ahead and started writing about that. That's how the record came about, as far as the theme.."[2]
Reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 80/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |    [4] |
| AllMusic | [1] |
| Blabbermouth.net | [5] |
| Drowned in Sound | [6] |
| Jukebox:Metal | [7] |
| Pitchfork Media | [8] |
| PopMatters | [9] |
| Rock Sound | [10] |
Exclaim! named Snakes for the Divine the ninth-best metal album of 2010.[11]
Track listing
All tracks are written by High on Fire.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Snakes for the Divine" | 8:23 |
| 2. | "Frost Hammer" | 6:07 |
| 3. | "Bastard Samurai" | 6:37 |
| 4. | "Ghost Neck" | 5:01 |
| 5. | "The Path" (instrumental) | 1:20 |
| 6. | "Fire, Flood & Plague" | 6:08 |
| 7. | "How Dark We Pray" | 8:06 |
| 8. | "Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter" | 4:13 |
| 9. | "Mystery of Helm" (bonus track) | 4:01 |
| 10. | "Eyes & Teeth (Live)" (Best Buy bonus track) | 4:31 |
| 11. | "Cometh Down Hessian (Live)" (Best Buy bonus track) | 4:33 |
Personnel
- Matt Pike – guitars, vocals
- Jeff Matz – bass
- Des Kensel – drums
- Greg Fidelman – production
- Arik Roper – album cover