Review by Josh Felty
Rating: ****
High on Fire's latest record reminds me of what it would sound like if a gaggle of Vikings were transported to the present era, handed electric guitars, and given a barrel of mead. The new album, titled Snakes for the Divine, is an immensely brutal assault on the senses.
In a good way, though.
Here we have some really sharp, gutteral vocals surrounded by intricate riffs and even more dizzying drum throttling. "Frost Hammer" is one such example, bringing to mind some polar journey of Conan the Barbarian. Not to mention, the impeccable album cover is a great nod to Frazetta. I just love the song titles too...try "Bastard Samurai" and "Fire, Flood, & Plague" for size. "Ghost Neck" has a bender of a double-bass part that puts Lars Ulrich to shame. In that respect (or lack of, I guess), Snakes reminds me of something Metallica or Slayer should be recording.
This album is poetic, plain and simple. Without consulting the great, wise Wikipedia gods (who are sometimes inaccurate in their information, regretfully) I surmise these guys hail from some Scandinavian land (let's say Iceland, just because Iceland rocks) and are probably touring the world as we speak. And with that, I have to commend them. The carreening guitar solos and epic song lengths (you'll be hard pressed to find one under five minutes) make for a daring, unwieldy collection that could unhinge your teeth from your gums.
I could see much of this album gracing an MMORPG or some gorey splatterhouse feature, the more independent the better. And with the beautiful, dark romanticism of the cover art, who can resist?
On that note, this won't be everyone's cup o' tea, so to say; definitely not something you'll want to pull up in an armchair and read The Saturday Evening Post with a pipe and smoking jacket while the little ones rest their heads on their hands before the hearth. But I liked it, so there you have it. Blunt, to the point, and always with a smile.
Not to veer off in a completely different direction, but we're expanding the music reviewership to include at least one new partaker/victim in our palaver. I know not who said individual is as of yet, but I want to say that I not only look forward to having the assistance, but am also optimistic that our Little Music Section That Could is moving on up to The East Side, as the ditty goes.
It's been an exhilarating ride thus far, let's keep it going...