A couple years ago when reviewing High On Fire's fourth full-length Death is This Communion, an album that landed at no. 7 on my 2007 year end list, I said something about how Matt Pike, Des Kensel and then new bassist Jeff Matz had managed to top 2002's Surrounded By Thieves and all that came after it via huge Jack Endino production and all sorts of new details (Eastern tinges, pastoral acoustics, an extended and accumulating drum solo, etc.), but for all these leaps and adds, it was the raw moments that felt best. Hello Snakes For The Divine. The Oakland trio's taut, muscular fifth album is unrelenting. They don't bother with interludes. Maybe think of it as Blessed Black Wings with five years experience and stadium-sized production. Pike's guitar playing is at its speediest and most complex without losing any forward momentum. His cracked-tooth vocals continue to age and deepen like the whiskey he drinks. Kensel and Matz click like guys who've recorded a classic album together and hit the road hard. It's early too early in 2010 to talk lists, but it's not often something rocks this hard.Continue reading New High On Fire - "Frost Hammer" (Stereogum Premiere)...