High On Fire was founded in 1998 by former Sleep guitarist Matt Pike, drummer Des Kensel, and bassist George Rice (from Dear Deceased, who originally auditioned to be the band's vocalist). The band's first full-length album The Art of Self Defense was released on 12th Records, and released later on Man's Ruin Records. (The album would later be re-released by Tee Pee Records, with two bonus tracks, as Man's Ruin Records had become defunct.)

In 2001, High On Fire signed a record deal with Relapse Records and recorded the album Surrounded by Thieves. The album was released on May 28, 2002. After the tours promoting Surrounded by Thieves, bassist George Rice left the band and was replaced by ex-Melvins/Thrones bassist Joe Preston.

The band's next album, 2005's Blessed Black Wings, was largely written by Pike and Kensel before the recording of the album took place. The album was produced by Steve Albini, and was released on February 1, 2005. A music video was produced for the song Devilution. While touring with Goatwhore and Watch Them Die to promote Blessed Black Wings, Joe Preston left the band for undisclosed reasons, and was temporarily replaced by Zeke bassist Jeff Matz. Matz finished the tour with High on Fire and became a full-time member during the recording of Death Is This Communion. Death Is This Communion was released on September 18, 2008 (September 10, in Europe.)

After Death is This Communion was released, High on Fire played a small string of Northwest shows to promote it. The band did a headline tour of North America in September and October 2007, with support from the Japanese post-rock band Mono, along with Panthers and Coliseum. High on Fire also played on 2008's Gigantour, which was followed by a North American tour with the bands Opeth, Baroness, and Nachtmystium.

On December 17, 2008, High on Fire signed a recording deal with Koch Records. On August 1, 2009, it was announced that a new album would be recorded with producer Greg Fidelman. Later than month, following the news of the new album, High on Fire announced a tour with Mastodon, Dethklok, and Converge. The tour spanned from October 2 to November 21.

In August 2009, the band went into post-production of the follow-up to Death Is This Communion at The Pass Studios in Los Angeles. The album artwork for the new album was released on January 7, 2010. On January 15, following the release of the album artwork, the song Frost Hammer was posted on the band's Myspace page, and a video for the song was released on March 16, 2010. Snakes for the Divine was formally released on February 23, 2010.

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