Snakes for the Divine

Contents

Snakes for the Divine is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band High on Fire.

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

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic80/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
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.

Personnel

  • Matt Pike – guitars, vocals
  • Jeff Matz – bass
  • Des Kensel – drums
  • Greg Fidelman – production
  • Arik Roper – album cover

References

  1. 1.[1.2]Review, AllMusic
  2. 2."High On Fire's Matt Pike: Lyrics 'About Exorcising My Own Personal Demons' | Interviews @". Ultimate-guitar.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2011. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  3. 3."Snakes for the Divine by High on Fire". Metacritic.
  4. 4.Pacheco, George. "Review: 'Snakes for the Divine'". About.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
  5. 5.Bergman, Keith. "Review: Snakes for the Divine". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
  6. 6.Gardner, Noel. "Review: Snakes for the Divine". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  7. 7.Andy Lye. "Jukebox:Metal review". Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  8. 8.Breihan, Tom. "Review: Snakes for the Divine". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
  9. 9."Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  10. 10.Kerswell, Ronnie. "High On Fire - Snakes For The Divine". Rocksound.tv. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  11. 11."Year in Review: Metal". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012.