High on Fire

Snakes for the Divine (E1)

Motoring a German Messerschmitt, Snakes for the Divine‘s eight-minute opening title track (“rise up, fall down”) notches a peak blitzkrieg for Oakland metal trio Matt Pike, Jeff Matz, and Des Kensel. Final Relapse anvil Death Is This Communion (2007) might never be breached, but lacking such compositional invincibility, Fire’s fifth LP still incinerates a galaxy of Euro metal via forest clearings “Frost Hammer” and doom Sabbath lurch “Bastard Samurai,” Pike croaking like Lemmy. Dude snake boogie. (Sunday, 7pm, Black stage)

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This article appears in November 5 • 2010.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.