Oh wait, I’m sorry, High on Fire tour all the time. That’s not shocking at all. My mistake.

Here’s the latest batch of dates off the PR wire:

World renowned hard rock giants High on Fire have announced a North American headlining tour. The massive fall expedition – dubbed the “Sanctioned Annihilation Tour” — will feature support from Torche and Kylesa and is set to launch on September 29 at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA.

Additionally, High on Fire has been chosen to participate as part of the 2011 Soundwave Festival. Billed as Australia’s “biggest metal and rock festival” and set to take place in late February and early March of next year, Soundwave will feature High on Fire alongside such names as Iron Maiden, Slayer, Queens of the Stone Age, Social Distortion, Monster Magnet, Rob Zombie and more.

High on Fire North American “Sanctioned Annihilation” headlining tour:
Sept. 29 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall #
Sept. 30 Pomona, CA Glasshouse #
Oct. 1 Flagstaff, AZ Orpheum Theatre #
Oct. 2 Albuquerque, NM The Launchpad #
Oct. 3 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater #
Oct. 5 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theatre #
Oct. 6 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
Oct. 8 Rock Island, IL Rock Island Brewing Company #
Oct. 9 Urbana, IL Canopy Club #
Oct. 10 Chicago, IL Metro (Riot Festival)
Oct. 11 Bloomington, IN Bluebird #
Oct. 13 Covington, KY Historic Southgate House #
Oct. 14 Detroit, MI Majestic Theatre #
Oct. 15 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop #
Oct. 16 Rochester, NY Water Street #
Oct. 17 Northampton, MA Pearl Street #
Oct. 19 Halifax, NS The Paragon Theatre (Halifax Pop Explosion)
Oct. 21 Portland, ME Port City Music Hall #
Oct. 22 Providence, RI Club Hell #
Oct. 23 Boston, MA Middle East Downstairs #
Oct. 24 New York, NY Webster Hall #
Oct. 26 Philadelphia, PA Starlite Ballroom #
Oct. 27 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle #
Oct. 29 Gainesville, FL Common Ground (Ye Old Fest)
Nov. 7 Austin, TX Waterloo Park (Fun Fun Fun Fest)
(# = with Torche, Kylesa)

I’ve been a fan of Adult Swim since the days when they showed clips of old people synchronized-swimming, and in no way is that depressing. The Cartoon Network Sunday night programming block got ahold of the as-yet-unreleased High on Fire track (somehow Kia was involved too), and posted the single as part of a series they’re doing over the course of apparently eight weeks. So, uh, thanks guys.

You can stream the track below or download it at the Adult Swim page linked above. If you don’t recall, High on Fire guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike spoke about this song in our interview.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

…And just to be clear, Canada is the “Great White North” because of the snow. Not a racist thing.

Anyway, High on Fire, who kick off their European dates as the support act for a little band no one’s ever heard of called Metallica tonight, have already announced their next move, which as you might have guessed involves a Canadian tour. Having just seen the band at their recent New York show, I can safely say that you, my Canuck amigos, are in for a treat. Quoth the PR wire:

High on Fire has announced a summer headlining tour of Canada. The two-week tour will launch on July 8 in Vancouver, BC and is scheduled to run through July 24 in Montreal, QC where the band will share the stage with Alice Cooper, Slayer, Rob Halford and more as part of the 2010 Heavy MTL Fest.

High on Fire w/ Metallica:
May 11 Belfast, Ireland Odyssey Arena
May 12 Belfast, Ireland Odyssey Arena
May 14 Budapest, Hungary Puskas Ferenc Stadium
May 16 Zagreb, Croatia Hippodrome
May 18 Lisbon, Portugal Pavilhao Atlantico
May 19 Lisbon, Portugal Pavilhao Atlantico
May 22 Tel Aviv, Israel Ramat Gan Stadium
May 23 Lyon, France Halle Tony Garnier

High on Fire summer Snakes for the Divine Canadian headlining tour:
July 8 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre #
July 10 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room #
July 11 Calgary, AB The Republik #
July 13 Winnipeg, ON Royal Albert Arms #
July 14 Thunder Bay, ON Crocks (Skeletonwitch supports)
July 16 Toronto, ON Opera House %
July 17 London, ON London Music Hall %
July 18 Windsor, ON The Blind Dog %
July 20 Hamilton, ON The Casbah %
July 21 Kingston, ON Time to Laugh %
July 22 Quebec City, QC Le Cercle %
July 23 Ottawa, ON Capital Music Hall %
July 24 Montreal, QC Heavy MTL Fest – Parc Jean Drapeau %
(# = features support from Russian Circles, Skeletonwitch)
(% = features support from Priestess, Skeletonwitch)

Here’s a quick New York moment for you: I’m sitting in my car waiting for 7pm to roll around so I won’t have to pay for parking off 23rd St. in Manhattan. Bison B.C. go on at 7, so once I’m in the clear I’m going to head into the Gramercy Theatre to catch their set, but in the meantime, I’ve got a book with me, I’ve got the Yankees game on the radio and I’m basically good to go.

Then all of a sudden I look up and standing next to the car in front of mine, facing me, is a dude on his phone. Not uncommon. I do a double-take, though, because on second glance, he’s got his shwatz out and he’s pissing right there on the street. It’s not rush-hour or anything, but there are people walking by for sure, and I know damn well he saw me. It was one of those things that, if I was a tourist from the Midwest, I’d be talking about it for years. As it is, I was kind of like, “Eww, wiener,” and went back to reading. Surely I’d not just spent an hour and a half of my life getting to the city to see that.

I’d done it to see Bison B.C., Black Cobra and High on Fire, dammit, and when 7pm rolled around, I busted ass across the street to do that very thing. I didn’t know the show was sold out (dude at the door told me to watch my feet in my sandals), which was a daunting prospect. This was the biggest show I’d been to in a while — venue and people-wise — and to be honest, it’s more than I generally prefer. But that’s a killer mix of bands, and if humanity is the cost of bearing witness, I’ll tough it out.

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I don’t know if I thought this myself or saw it posted somewhere else the other day, but I had it in my head recently one way or the other that it was about time High on Fire hit the road opening for Metallica. Hell, Machine Head did it. Down did it. Mastodon did it. And if High on Fire are to enter that upper echelon of this generation of metal — which they seem poised to do on their new album Snakes for the Divine — this rite of passage simply can’t be ignored. Wouldn’t you know, along comes the PR wire with the news that such a tour is already booked.

Note the family-friendly language in the band’s statement. Can’t have the AP picking up a story where Matt Pike talks about bashing arena crowds with the spiked end of a fucking mace, I guess:

World renowned power trio High on Fire will tour Europe this May with Hall of Fame metal band Metallica. High on Fire has been hand-picked by the legendary group to support it on a number of just announced live dates set to launch on May 11 in Belfast, Ireland.

High on Fire and Metallica will pair up for a slew of concerts over an almost two week span including live performances in Hungary, Croatia, Portugal, Israel and France.

“High on Fire is ecstatic to join Metallica on its upcoming tour,” said the band in a statement. “We are honored to be chosen by James, Lars, Kirk and Robert and look forward to introducing their loyal crowds to our brand of heaviness.”

High on Fire w/ Metallica
May 11 Belfast, Ireland       Odyssey Arena
May 12 Belfast, Ireland       Odyssey Arena
May 14 Budapest, Hungary    Puskas Ferenc Stadium
May 16 Zagreb, Croatia       Hippodrome
May 18 Lisbon, Portugal      Pavilhao Atlantico
May 19 Lisbon, Portugal      Pavilhao Atlantico
May 22 Tel Aviv, Israel        Ramat Gan Stadium
May 23 Lyon, France         Halle Tony Garnier

They are the most potent power trio in metal. Oakland, California thrashers High on Fire seem to accomplish a career’s worth of heavy with each album they put out, and 2010′s Snakes for the Divine (the band’s first release on E1 Music) in no different. The guitar playing of Matt Pike (ex-Sleep), accompanied by the ferocious rhythms of drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz (ex-Zeke), has been responsible for some of this century’s most furious riffs and solos, and has almost single-handedly proven that it’s possible to shred in this day and age without sound like a total ProTools jerkoff.

Simply put, they made guitar metal cool again.

Snakes for the Divine introduces a new side of High on Fire. With cleaner production courtesy of Greg Fidelman (Slayer, Metallica), Pike, Kensel and Matz have a crispness to their attack that was never there before. Songs like “Frost Hammer” and “Fire, Flood and Plague” have all the power and drive of the best work on preceding albums Death is This Communion (2007), Blessed Black Wings (2005), Surrounded by Thieves (2002) and The Art of Self-Defense (2000), but with the added clarity and improved vocal technique from Pike, they move High on Fire into a different echelon of heavy metal bands. They are quickly becoming a more influential act, and in the years to come, don’t be surprised how much you see their name tossed around in interviews with other bands. The level of their impact is only beginning to reveal itself.

So, as we embark on yet another era of High on Fire, as rife as ever with battle axes and epic tales of death and war, Matt Pike was kind enough to check in from Florida for a phone interview. Despite a craptacular connection (the reasons behind which are a story for another time), the guitarist opened up on the band’s developing processes, working with Fidelman and what makes touring today different than it was five years ago. Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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I’ve been waiting for High on Fire to finally get a budget for a video. Not that “Rumors of War” from Death is this Communion was bad, but it was pretty much the shortest song on the album and the video was basically the band playing in a warehouse. If it doesn’t have a battle axe, it hardly seems appropriate.

The ensuing clip for “Frost Hammer,” from the band’s much-lauded Snakes for the Divine LP, seems to have the cure for anyone wanting of the epic. To wit:

And sayeth the PR wire:

Filmed on location in both Los Angeles, CA and NYC with director Kevin Custer for Toaster in the Tub, High on Fire’s “Frost Hammer” video showcases intense performance footage of the award-winning band juxtaposed alongside “the epic tale of a warrior’s sojourn to the cold and barren Plateau of Leng where he secures the fabled Frost Hammer that will be used to enact the final rites and complete the dark rebirth and reign of the Frost Child.” [Duh. – ed.]

Despite hearing “Frost Hammer” well beforehand and streaming about half of the title track when that was put online, I held off listening to High on Fire’s fifth full-length, Snakes for the Divine (their first offering on new label E1 Music) until I could hold the disc in my hand. Since production was my major concern going into the record – how it would actually sound, in other words – I didn’t want to waste time on the poor quality of a MySpace stream or something like that. Plus, sometimes it’s better to wait. Builds the anticipation.

And anticipation was certainly at a fever pitch for High on Fire this time around. I don’t think there’s a headbanger over drinking age for whom Snakes for the Divine wasn’t right near the top of the list of albums being looked forward to in 2010. It was right up there for me as well, and as the reviews started coming out and everyone seemed to be in accord on the level of kickassery, I wanted to hear it all the more. Having now finally had that chance, to sit with Snakes for the Divine and try to understand where it’s coming from, as an avid High on Fire fan since their early Relapse Records days, I will honestly say this latest effort is a mixed bag.

While we’re being honest, I was hesitant to even post a review of the record after listening to it, since I’ve no doubt that for the vast, vast majority of those who will hear it, Snakes for the Divine will more than surpass expectation – not to mention that, with a release this huge, my opinion is of minus relevance, so I’m basically pissing in the wind. Nonetheless, here we are.

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…Just because I have. Yet again I’ve fucking failed to grab the code to stream a song from Spin and put it on this site. This time it’s the title track to the new High on Fire record, Snakes for the Divine. Pleh. Download it here, along with some nifty Jay Reatard and MC Frontalot, whoever the hell they are.

Because it’s the internet and exclusivity is a thing of the past, you can hear the studio version of High on Fire‘s “Frost Hammer” right here on The Obelisk. Credit where credit’s due, Stereogum got the official premiere, but I’ve gotten halfway decent at this internet thing the last 12 months, so I more or less grabbed the embedding code from them and put it here. Now I can make believe I’m relevant enough to debut new High on Fire songs too. It’ll be like a tea party, only with cups of sadness.

Here’s the track, followed by some PR wire info:

Today, High on Fire premieres the first new song from Snakes for the Divine, unleashing the powerhouse “Frost Hammer.”  The out-of-this-world track sees the Oakland band at the peak of its powers, delivering state-of-the-art heavy metal as only High on Fire can while legendary guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike roars about “icy skies, frozen minds and galactic eyes.”

When asked for comment on “Frost Hammer,” Pike called the song, “An icy death lullaby.”

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. 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.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the Arik Roper artwork for the new High on Fire record, Snakes for the Divine. As if you needed me to tell you it rules:

Fucking killer. I want to get a poster of it, travel back in time and put it up on my 14-year-old self’s bedroom wall and say, “Listen up you little bastard! You don’t know what the hell this is yet, but you spend the next decade and a half staring at it and then maybe you’ll be worthy enough to find out.”

Snakes for the Divine is out Feb. 23 on E1 Music. I wanna be friends with it.

Anyone out there have any records you’re really looking forward to hearing this year? Preview stuff is always tricky to put together because it’s either rampant speculation or shortsighted. The fact is no one knows how a year will play out as it’s just beginning. There are all these “Albums to Watch Out For” lists and it’s either stuff you’ll never see or everything is released by the middle of March.

But hey, it’s an unpredictable world. Maybe The Melvins will have a record this year, maybe not. And if they do, maybe it’ll suck. One can never tell what life is going to bring.

With the usual stipulations that this is in no way comprehensive or based on anything other than personal opinion (namely mine), here are five albums I’m looking forward to hearing in 2010, numbered for convenience, not necessarily preference:

01. High on Fire, Snakes for the Divine: Duh. It’s probably the biggest “stoner metal” release of the first half of the year, if not the whole thing, and if not one of the biggest metal releases overall. I don’t know how Greg Fidelman will handle the production — so help me Robot Jesus if I don’t get to hear every Des Kensell tom thud — but even if it’s not up to par with Death is this Communion, the new High on Fire is bound to kick at least some ass.

02. Sasquatch, III: These guys already have two fantastic albums on Small Stone under their collective belt and are more or less the Great American Hope for 21st Century stoner rock. No pressure, dudes. Nothing really riding on this except the future of your country’s output in the genre. Not like if it’s not the greatest thing ever the whole world is going to laugh at America‘s diminished riff prowess (you know Belgium‘s just been waiting). So yeah, just play it cool.

03. Solace, A.D.: Long time coming, but I have faith that the Jersey boys will get it done and out this year. I’m not sure why exactly I have that faith, but I have it nonetheless. I’ve heard some of this material live and it destroys. It’s high time Solace started getting at least a piece of the recognition they deserve, and getting A.D. out is essential to that process. This might be that whole “rampant speculation” thing though, because A.D. is at least three years in the works at this point.

04. Brant Bjork‘s new album: Doesn’t have a revealed title yet, but if I had a New Year’s resolution (I don’t), it would be to interview Brant Bjork. He’s also reportedly got a live record out sometime soon, and he’s touring Europe again this Spring, so there’s a lot going on there.

05. Humo del Cairo, Humo del Cairo: MeteorCity is doing an issue of the Argentinian trio’s self-titled debut, and if there’s one thing I like, it’s stoner trios from Argentina. Especially ones with grooves as massive as “Cauce,” which you can hear on the band’s MySpace. Could be a sleeper hit, or could just rule. Count me in either way. I could have sworn I’d written about them before, but apparently not. An oversight soon to be corrected, I’m sure.

Oh PR wire, just when I think I’m out, you pull me back in. Here’s the latest news on High on Fire‘s new album:

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.

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. 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 and Plague
6.) How Dark We Pray
7.) Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter
8.) Mystery of Helm

Snakes for the Divine’s album artwork will be brought to life by longtime High on Fire cover artist Arik Moonhawk Roper.

Please note that the headlining band with whom High on Fire will be sharing the stage in Australia does not really have “Corporate Douchebags” as its moniker. It’s actually Lamb of God, but I figured my way worked just as well, and the thought of helping to promote that kind of bullshit mediocrity via this forum turned my stomach, so “Corporate Douchebags” it is. Behold the PR wire news release, obviously edited to suit my purposes:

World-renowned power trio High on Fire has announced December, 2009 Australian tour dates alongside ?Corporate Douchebags.? The metal heavyweights will join forces beginning December 11 in Brisbane as part of a touring bill that will also include DevilDriver and Shadows Fall. The just-announced expedition?s complete itinerary can be found below.

High on Fire?s long-awaited, fifth studio album and follow-up to 2007?s Death is This Communion [reportedly titled Snakes for the Divine ? ed.] is currently nearing completion. The award-winning band worked with producer Greg Fidelman (Metallica, Slayer, Johnny Cash) at Los Angeles? The Pass Studios with the goal of capturing ?the ultimate High on Fire experience.? The album is slated for a January 23, 2010 release via E1 Music.

High on Fire / ?Corporate Douchebags? December Australian tour:
(*All dates also include DevilDriver and Shadows Fall)
December 11 – Brisbane, The Riverstage
December 12 – Sydney, Luna Park
December 13 – Sydney, Luna Park
December 15 – Melbourne, Festival Hall

Just figured I’d ask since they’re doing a 34-date US tour together starting in October. Support comes from High on Fire and Converge, which actually makes for a pretty good bill if you can handle all the silliness. Anyway, the question at hand:

Mastodon?

or Dethklok?

By the way, I still haven’t listened to Crack the Skye and I’ve yet to hear any arguments convincing enough to make me want to buy it. I’m sure Mastodon, who sold over 40,000 copies of the record its first week out alone, are crying. Anyone remember when they put out Leviathan? That was awesome.