Earth | ||
| Allmusic Biography : For nearly 30 years, Earths Dylan Carlson, its lone constant member, has inhabited a uniquely elastic role in rock. From the very beginning, Earth has been both an exponent of experimental drone-based guitar music and a signature practitioner of the detuned riff inspired by Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. They remain a singular entity, even though bands such as Sunn 0))) and Boris credit Earths influence as inseparable from their existences. The only constant in this bands aesthetic is change, an odd point of irony given that their recorded music relies on heavy yet hypnotic forms of repetition. They virtually created the drone and ambient metal subgenres with their glacial, monolithic exercise Earth 2 in 1993. It arrived (already an outlier) as it hailed from the Pacific Northwest at the dawn of grunge. A series of albums through the rest of the decade cemented that reputation. Earth went on hiatus after 1996s Pentastar: In the Style of Demons due to Carlsons massive personal problems including heroin addiction. After getting sober he re-formed the band with drummer Adrienne Davies in 2003, and in 2005 delivered the arid, brittle yet melodic, psychedelic rock, Gothic Americana, spaghetti western-influenced Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method. The band built upon and morphed that records schematics for a decade, exploring spaces between notes and lingering vibrations. A decade later, they ventured into heavy yet meditative rock with Primitive & Deadly before 2017s Concrete Desert, a collaboration with Kevin Martin (aka the Bug), the king of brittle breaks and left-field sonics. The band was originally formed in 1990 in Olympia, Washington by Carlson, Slim Moon (who later founded the Kill Rock Stars label), and Greg Babior. Moon and Babior left soon after and were replaced by Joe Preston. Earth played a few live shows and then recorded some material with Mike Lastra. After opening for L7 in Seattle, the group was approached by Sub Pop Records, which released the recordings in 1991 as Extra-Capsular Extraction. The following year, Carlson and Preston recorded Earth 2 with producer Stewert Hallerman, but Preston left soon after the albums release. Sub Pop was unhappy with Earths lackadaisical recording tendencies, and the label pulled the plug on 1993 sessions for the third album. Recording resumed the following year with producer Ian Dickson (who would become a permanent member just one year later), engineer Scott Benson, and drummer Rick Cambern. Phase 3 was finally released in April 1995. A live album taken from a Blast First label concert was released the same year as Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars. Sub Pop surprisingly re-signed Earth for three more albums early in 1996, and Carlson recorded a new album, Pentastar: In the Style of Demons. The album showed a more stabilized band with the addition of guitarist Shawn McElligot and drummer Mike McDaniels. After a small series of live performances following the release, Earth quietly disbanded with virtually no public acknowledgment of the split. A live album appeared in 2000, followed the next year by a series of demos (one including a vocal from the deceased Kurt Cobain) issued with a CD version of the Sunn Amps EP. An Earth video titled A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge was also available from Sub Pop. Earth returned in 2002 for a series of live shows in the U.S. and Europe, this time as a two-piece with Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies. That lineup was featured on 2005s Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword. The album was recorded live, with its title cut lasting nearly an hour. Earth returned that September with the more ambitious Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method, which suggested the sound of a drone metal band covering Giant Sand or Scenic. The year 2008 saw the release of Hibernaculum, which offered four long songs, three of which originally appeared on earlier recordings but were performed on this set via the new Earth sonic aesthetic. It also contained a DVD featuring concert and interview footage from the Hex tour. The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull appeared in 2009, and took the latter-day Earth sound into even more hauntingly abstract and cinematic directions. In 2010, Southern Lord released A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra-Capsular Extraction, a remastered compilation containing the complete 1990 Smegma Studios sessions -- their earliest recordings -- previously only available separately on Extra-Capsular Extraction and Sunn Amps & Smashed Guitars. Carlson resumed the experiments he began back on Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method with the first part of a projected trilogy entitled Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light, Vol. 1 arriving via Southern Lord in 2011. Somewhat different in approach, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light, Vol. 2 arrived in early 2012. The equally diverse Primitive and Deadly, which featured the talents of guest vocalists Mark Lanegan and Rabia Shaheen Qazi (Rose Windows), dropped in late summer 2014. Later that same year, Earth teamed up for a collaborative 12" single with electronic artist Kevin Martin (aka the Bug). The single was made available as a special Record Store Day release. They joined forces again for a special release in 2017, Concrete Desert. Two years later Carlson stripped the bands sound back to a basic duo with only drummer Adrienne Davies as a collaborator for Full Upon Her Burning Lips. They focused more on percussive sounds as the hub of the warped wheel Earth churns on while retaining the cinematic scope of earlier recordings. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 25 Title: Extra‐Capsular Extraction Released: 1991-10 Tracks: 3 Duration: 32:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, Part 1 (07:22) 2 A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, Part 2 (06:38) 3 Ouroboros Is Broken (18:13) |
 | Album: 2 of 25 Title: Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version Released: 1993-02-05 Tracks: 5 Duration: 15:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Seven Angels (15:35) 2 Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, Part 1 (?) 1 Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, Part 2 (?) 2 Like Gold and Faceted, Part 1 (?) 3 Like Gold and Faceted, Part 2 (?) |
 | Album: 3 of 25 Title: Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars Live Released: 1995 Tracks: 5 Duration: 54:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Ripped on Fascist Ideas (31:23) 2 Geometry of Murder (07:23) 3 German Dental Work (05:15) 4 Divine and Bright (02:58) 5 Dissolution 1 (07:13) |
| Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars Live : Allmusic album Review : Molded out of several demos and live performances, Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars is either a masterpiece of noise or a plodding mess. The first song is a long jam taken from a 1995 London concert, while the other four songs are demos from 1990 (which includes a song with Kurt Cobain on vocals). Dylan Carlson is a very good guitarist, and his ambient metal ideas are quite intriguing. But listening to the first track on this album is like getting teeth pulled; only the most dedicated noise junky would want to hear Carlson wank away like a metalhead teenager for a half an hour. Rumor has it that during the performance, Carlson let two fans take over playing the song for a while, and if this is true then it makes it even sadder that there is no point where a change like this is audible. This one track completely sinks the feel of the album, which otherwise shows Earth in the days when they could still compose a fairly memorable sludge metal song. "Geometry of a Murder" is a good example; it rolls along, with its Tony Iommi chords leveling everything in its path with incredible power. But it can do this because it has an actual structure to it; there is no feedback solo for the sake of feedback. "Divine and Bright" is another highlight, although the influence of Kurt Cobain is obvious, as this song is practically pop music compared to the rest of the album. Even "German Dental Work" is a nice chunk of heaviness that would do Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick proud. Sadly, the last track, "Dissolution 1," is another boring yawner that would unfortunately predict the direction their career would take. Although there are at least three good songs buried in this compilation, the only real reason to get this would be to hear some unreleased Cobain material. The Earth 2 album was their definitive statement, while the rest of their career more or less gave into the boring side of the music. Only dedicated fans of Earth or Cobain need apply. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 25 Title: Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions Released: 1995-04-25 Tracks: 8 Duration: 55:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Harvey (02:54) 2 Tibetan Quaaludes (07:43) 3 Lullaby (take 2: How Dry I Am) (03:15) 4 Song 4 (02:50) 5 Site Specific Carnivorous Occurrence (08:41) 6 Phase 3: Agni Detonating Over the Thar Desert… (12:28) 7 Thrones and Dominions (14:21) 8 Song 6 (chime) (02:48) |
| Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions : Allmusic album Review : Earths master of paranoia and disaster, Dylan Carlson, has long seemed bent on capturing the sound of aggression, displacement, fear, and loathing through the lens of narcotic painkillers. Or so it seems. Throughout the course of Earths output, Carlson has befuddled listeners with his down-tuned, lengthy excursions into single-note monoliths of songs, his guitar tones droning heavily, hanging menacingly for long spells of time before crashing in slow-motion toward another note or chord progression. The chief problem this time around, as with Pentastar: In the Style of Demons, is that Carlsons gift for writing riffs never fully lifts from the earth. In other words, there are plenty of excellent ideas -- stellar, half-written song structures that are never granted the proper completion or percussive accompaniment. There are very few people working like this -- save folks like Caspar Brotzmann or the Melvins -- with such command of heavy, louder-than-hell guitar playing. Earth can be frightening, saddening, alienating, peculiar, and more often than not, disappointing. One may listen and wish Carlson would hammer down on that guitar with a complete, vital rhythm section. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 25 Title: Pentastar: In the Style of Demons Released: 1996-07-23 Tracks: 8 Duration: 43:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Introduction (05:15) 2 High Command (05:50) 3 Crooked Axis for String Quartet (05:29) 4 Tallahassee (03:50) 5 Charioteer (Temple Song) (04:17) 6 Peace in Mississippi (05:56) 7 Sonar and Depth Charge (07:13) 8 Coda maestoso in F-flat minor (05:19) |
| Pentastar: In the Style of Demons : Allmusic album Review : Dylan Carlson may best be remembered as Kurt Cobains friend, probably not the way he would like to be seen in music history. But besides having that going for him, he was also the brains behind Earth, a Seattle combo that tried to recreate Black Sabbath, but much slower. Earths early albums showed a lot of promise, but never quite delivered the epic sound that was hinted at. On Pentastar, Carlson tries to find the middle ground between the space rock of Hawkwind and the noisy guitar work of the Melvins. Unfortunately, he forgot to write any songs, instead letting the noise speak for itself. As an ambient noise project, the album actually works. It makes great background music, but very rarely does the music stand out. Songs blur together, and only on the Jimi Hendrix cover "Peace in Mississippi" does Earth sound like a rock band. The Sabbath influence rears its head on the noisy "Tallahassee," but it seems like too little, too late -- since the long instrumentals may keep people from actually reaching that song. If Carlson really wanted to make his mark, he should have just tried to rock instead of hinting at it. As it stands, open-minded fans of doom metal may want to check this out, but few others will be interested in what is going on here. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 25 Title: 070796 Live Released: 2000 Tracks: 1 Duration: 22:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 070796 (22:21) |
 | Album: 7 of 25 Title: Earth / KK Null Released: 2003-11 Tracks: 3 Duration: 55:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Dexamyl (18:29) 2 Andromeda (18:09) 3 Dexamyl (K.K. Null Mix) (18:38) |
 | Album: 8 of 25 Title: Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword Released: 2005-02 Tracks: 2 Duration: 1:13:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Dissolution III (14:29) 2 Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword (58:53) |
| Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword : Allmusic album Review : After a long silence that suggested that Earth had called it quits, Dylan Carlson revived the group in the early 2000s for some live appearances. The timing was good -- groups like Sunn 0))), Boris, and Corrupted were all building on the epic guitar drone that Earth brought to prominence in the 90s. But there was a problem: the Earth of Earth 2 and its underrated sequel, Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions, was no more. The change to a more traditional rock approach was already evident on their last studio album, 1996s misunderstood Pentastar: In the Style of Demons. After Pentastar, though, Earth was all but lost in a mash of personal and legal woes. In 2002 Sunn Amps, a limited-run live album, was expanded and reissued, and Earth was suddenly alive again, touring the States and Europe. Their New York show and a radio appearance were taped and that is the material that makes up this album. The Earth lineup heard on Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword is more of an instrumental doom metal unit made up of Carlson on guitar and Adrienne Davies on drums. The guitar playing is loose and heavy, with Carlson channeling bits of both Tony Iommi and Danny Whitten. Carlsons ear for subterranean tone has always been a key factor in Earths sound, if not the factor, and the shuttering distortion he wrings out on the opener, "Dissolution III," makes it clear that despite the long absence he is still in charge of his muse. The rest of the album is taken up by the hourlong epic title cut. "Living in the Gleam..." meanders between a riff that owes more to Jesus Lizard than Black Sabbath and loud open-chord alms to rock & rolls ruling demons. Davies provides steady, minimal backing that tows Carlsons guitar through the haze like a determined but overburdened tugboat. Cultish Earth fans hoping for another low-frequency knockout like Earth 2 might be disappointed by the more straightforward approach here, but less narrowly focused listeners will appreciate Living in the Gleam as a fine heir to the heavy underground rock tradition of Randy Holden, Crazy Horse, and Earth itself. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 25 Title: Legacy of Dissolution Released: 2005-03-01 Tracks: 6 Duration: 1:08:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (Mogwai remix) (12:16) 2 Tibetan Quaaludes (Waveset Sloth mix) (09:30) 3 Thrones and Dominions (Jim O’Rourke remix) (16:29) 4 Coda maestosa in F flat minor (Autechre remix) (05:35) 5 Harvey (Justin Broadrick remix) (08:22) 6 Rule the Divine (Mysteria Caelestis Mugivi) (Sunn O))) remix) (16:00) |
 | Album: 10 of 25 Title: HEX; or Printing in the Infernal Method Released: 2005-09-20 Tracks: 9 Duration: 46:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Mirage (01:45) 2 Land of Some Other Order (07:18) 3 The Dire and Ever Circling Wolves (07:34) 4 Left in the Desert (01:13) 5 Lens of Unrectified Night (07:56) 6 An Inquest Concerning Teeth (05:16) 7 Raiford (The Felon Wind) (07:21) 8 The Dry Lake (03:21) 9 Tethered to the Polestar (04:42) |
| HEX; or Printing in the Infernal Method : Allmusic album Review : Bands like Black Sabbath and the Melvins made it OK to "drone" within the realm of heavy metal, but this approach wasnt fully explored until Earth hit the scene in the early 90s. Led by guitarist Dylan Carlson, what sets the band apart from the rest of the doom metal pack is that Earth almost always completely bypasses vocals -- usually focusing entirely on a few plodding notes per song -- as evidenced by their 2005 release (and first for the Southern Lord label), Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method. Once more (as on Earths previous release, Living in the Gleam of an Unseathed Sword), Carlson is teamed with drummer Adrienne Davies, while several other guest instrumentalists supply bass, lap/pedal steel guitar, and even trombone and tubular bells. Imagine what a soundtrack to a film about the earths early days would sound like, and Hex is pretty darn close, just from the song titles alone -- "Land of Some Other Order," "Left in the Desert," "The Dry Lake," and so on. Certainly not the type of album youd put on in your car when you want to zip along the freeway, but fans of doom metal with an interesting twist will certainly approve. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 25 Title: Angel Coma Released: 2006-03-08 Tracks: 2 Duration: 29:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Coma Mirror (13:13) 2 A Plague of Angels (16:21) |
 | Album: 12 of 25 Title: Live HEX; in a Large City on the North American Continent Released: 2006-08-03 Tracks: 7 Duration: 1:10:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Plague of Angels (14:47) 2 Ouroboros Is Broken / Coda Maestoso in F-flat minor (11:10) 3 Raiford (08:41) 4 Inquest Concerning Teeth (07:13) 5 Lens of Unrectified Night (09:21) 6 Other Ghost-Like Symptoms (09:13) 7 Land of Some Other Order (09:57) |
 | Album: 13 of 25 Title: Live Europe 2006 Released: 2007 Tracks: 6 Duration: 59:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Ouroboros Is Broken (05:35) 2 Coda Maestoso in E (Flat) Minor (06:20) 3 The Felon Wind (08:50) 4 Land of Some Other Order (09:55) 5 Plague of Angels (11:45) 6 Raiford / The Felon Wind (17:27) |
 | Album: 14 of 25 Title: Hibernaculum Released: 2007-03-20 Tracks: 4 Duration: 36:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Ouroboros Is Broken (08:17) 2 Coda maestoso in F-flat minor (06:51) 3 Miami Morning Coming Down (05:15) 4 A Plague of Angels (16:21) |
| Hibernaculum : Allmusic album Review : Arriving in 2007, Hibernaculum, a beautifully packaged a double audio/video disc combination issued on Southern Lord, proves that the change in sound that Earth mastermind and guitarist Dylan Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies created on Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method was no one-off. On the CD version of the set, Earth cover three tunes from their previous incarnation as pioneering heavy metal drone masters, including the cut "A Plague of Angels," previously available only on a rare tour-only split 12" (with Sunn 0)))), all done in the "Hex" manner. On first glance -- and perhaps even on first listen -- with only 36 minutes of music included on the audio disc, this might appear to be a stop-gap on the way to a new album; its seemingly more in line with the demos and other oddities Carlson had issued in the groups previous incarnation before he disbanded it. Having resurrected the band in 2000, Carlson decided to follow this different tack: playing music that is heavy in a very different way. Snaky long guitar lines are played with a restrained force, little distortion or feedback, and no drones. The hypnotic effect is achieved more from the repetition of the guitar patterns themselves and the space in between them. Its usually trebly and contains single lines as well as chord changes, with slow droning riffs that rely on the microphonics of volume to achieve their effect. Its given a flourish by Davies and bassists Don McGreevy and Jonas Haskins, and some analog synth sound coloration by Sunn 0)))s Greg Anderson on the first two cuts, "Ouroboros Is Broken" and "Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor." These two cuts, which lead into the last two, are heavy because of their intentional restraint. The music isnt pretty; it touches upon everything including Ennio Morricones spaghetti Western film cues and even a warped form of desert country music that could have come from Tucson in the 1980s. "Miami Morning Coming Down" begins with a spare piano playing the four-note theme, which is completed in sparse fashion by Carlsons guitar playing in the second half. The music doesnt so much whirl around. In fact, in many ways it feels static in its repetition, but it draws you in all the same, offering a hint that something, anything, might happen. And it does -- the numbers of notes are the same but not their sequence, not the amount of space between theme articulation and completion. It begins to hover and float as fuzz tones take over on the guitars, cymbals shimmer, and a bassline emerges. Its hypnotic and haunting. The final cut is where Carlson and friends show the true menace in their sound, opening with a drone that seems to slip in and out of a crack in the world, the break that points to the void. Over 16 minutes in length, it unfolds and disintegrates rather than really building -- its tempo remains very slow, almost still, but the dark, heavy plod becomes a thud with a ringing guitar touching on pedal steel atmospherics and the sonics themselves peeling off the layers that surround this simple melody. As good as the rest of the material here is, its "A Plague of Angels" that is the payoff. It wraps everything heard so far into a messy little package that points not inwardly but out toward the night sky itself. In its purposefulness, its not just an aesthetic, its a poetic. The film by Seldon Hunt on the accompanying DVD offers live footage of Earth during their Hex tour in Europe, interviews with bandmembers and with Carlson and others, providing an in-your-face, intimate view of the band as it exists in the present day. Hibernaculum may or may not be a stop-gap, because what exists here is somehow enough. Its Earth as a developing entity that transcends all the different genres that wrap into their sound for the sake of creating a music that is "heavier" than any of their peers. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 25 Title: Radio Earth: Live 2007 2008 Released: 2008 Tracks: 4 Duration: 42:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Engine of Ruin (07:42) 2 Omens and Portents II: The Carrion Crow (12:35) 3 The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull (12:07) 4 Junkyard Priest (09:54) |
 | Album: 16 of 25 Title: The Peacock Angels Lament / Narasimha Released: 2008-02 Tracks: 2 Duration: 26:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Peacock Angels Lament (13:08) 2 Narasimha (13:21) |
 | Album: 17 of 25 Title: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull Released: 2008-02-22 Tracks: 7 Duration: 53:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Omens and Portents I: The Driver (09:07) 2 Rise to Glory (05:46) 3 Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine) (08:01) 4 Engine of Ruin (06:28) 5 Omens and Portents II: Carrion Crow (08:04) 6 Hung From the Moon (07:44) 7 The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (08:14) |
| The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull : Allmusic album Review : What a long strange trip its been indeed. When Earth -- basically Dylan Carlson -- disappeared from the music scene after Pentastar: In the Style of Demons, hed become a black sheep to virtually everyone. Lost in the swirl of drug addiction, and having bought the gun that Kurt Cobain used in his suicide, it took years for Carlson to come to grips with his own evil spirits. While interest in the band never completely waned, it took the likes of Sunn 0))) and other big feedbacking drone worshipers to bring it to fruition. In 2005, Carlsons new Earth returned with Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method, a record that was less deafening, but strangely and hypnotically beautiful nonetheless, taking as a primary inspiration the spaghetti Western soundtracks of Ennio Morricone as a cue to create a new minimal soundscape that was sun-bleached, bone-dry, and more mysterious than anything theyd done before. Issued by Stephen OMalleys Southern Lord label, 2008s The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull has a package that is something to behold, with a black textured slipcase, the band name and title embossed in gold, and a booklet featuring a perfect illustration of the title by Arik Roper in four-color glossy glorious art. The title of the album comes from the Old Testament of the Bible in the narrative of Samson and Delilah. Other than Carlson on guitars (and amplifiers), Earth also include drummer Adrienne Davies, Steve Moore on acoustic and Wurlitzer pianos and Hammond B-3, and bassist Don McGreevy (both electric and upright). Guitarist Bill Frisell helps out on four cuts as well, and Randall Dunn produced the set. Fans of the heavier, more ear-shattering version of the group will find themselves drawn to this more than Hex or the live Hibernaculum set; that said, The Bees Made Honey should also attract more recent listeners. Big guitars abound, but theyre musical; theyre as informed by a much more ringing brand of country sound that can be heard on records ranging from those of Lee Hazlewood to Thin White Ropes Tucson-drenched sonic six-string wind-downs. But in true Earth fashion, the long droning form is back, albeit tempered by minimal repetitive melodies that are simple in structure but hold great power. The set begins with "Omens and Portents I: The Driver." Its nine minutes of controlled crawl. Carlsons guitar and wah-wah pedal are colored by the high ringing tone of Frisells trademark sound -- albeit it far less ornamental than listeners are used to hearing him. Davies drums, so easy to overlook, are perfect in their minimal, muted tom-tom pace; they help to register the tension in this gradually unfolding melody. Reverb, controlled feedback, detuned drone, and high-pitched whine all gradually flood the foreground while the bass and drums hold the line and simultaneously make the tempo nearly unbearable. The Wurlitzer paints the ground between the front-line instruments and the rhythm section, and hints of a lyric statement emerge, fade, disappear, and mutate into others -- very, very slowly. Its dark, powerful, forbidding music. "Rise to Glory," while still heavy despite the restraint in volume, is somewhat brighter. Carlson uses big chords, a slowly evolving riff, and a high-twang country ring in his attack, and the drums walk a middle ground between pulse and actual time signature. The acoustic piano that creeps and asserts itself between the guitar sounds is painterly, and feels like some kind of arrival from the wasteland. "Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)," which has almost a nursery rhyme melody, but its gradual pacing cleanses the palette of sentimentality and instead evolves into something resembling movement toward a much richer sonic landscape. With large B-sharp washes, off-rhythm single beats, and a droning bassline, this is as close to a song as Carlson has ever composed. The front-line complexity reaches its zenith in the middle of the record on "Engine of Ruin," where Frisell gets to work his magic in concert with Carlson playing an octave apart. The ringing open tone of his guitar and the low-slung harshness of the latter are complex, dynamically rich, and beautifully textural. Elements of the blues, big-riffing 70s rock (albeit tempered by the wonderful separation and clarity of the sound), and rockist sway make this one of the albums highlights. The darkness returns on the latter half of the record, more pronounced with less actual articulation on the second part of the opening theme, introduced by a rumbling acoustic piano, knotty harmonics, and a framed melodic statement that is more complex and slightly faster, but still s-l-o-o-o-o-w; think of the flow of raw honey as it emerges from the cone. The final two cuts, "Hung from the Moon" and the title track, are so deeply atmospheric and beautifully arrayed that they need to be heard rather than discussed -- except to say that the latter is actually Earths attempt at a shuffle, but in a time signature and dynamic manner that is all their own. The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull is more musical and adventurous than anything Earth have ever issued. Its a record that gets inside your body as well as your head and wont let go. Its rich and adventurous, and still contains the kind of restraint that allows for the spaces between sounds to accommodate their own voices. If Carlson and Earth dont get real soundtrack work for this brand of monumentally cinematic rock, there is no justice. Its odd to think that a band around this long is finally reaching its peak rather than trying to hold on to past glories. | ||
 | Album: 18 of 25 Title: A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra‐Capsular Extraction Released: 2010-01-01 Tracks: 7 Duration: 55:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, Part 1 (07:22) 2 A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, Part 2 (06:38) 3 Ouroboros Is Broken (18:13) 4 Geometry of Murder (07:23) 5 German Dental Work (05:15) 6 Divine and Bright (02:58) 7 Dissolution 1 (07:13) |
| A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra‐Capsular Extraction : Allmusic album Review : The 55 minutes of music contained on A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra-Capsular Extraction are the sum of Earths very first recording sessions at Smegma Studios in 1990. The band consisted of guitarist Dylan Carlson and bassists Dave Harwell and Joe Preston (the latter also played an Alesis HR-16 drum machine). Two guests vocalists -- Kelly Canary and Kurt Cobain -- helped out on the eight-track sessions. Sub Pop released part of the album as a 35-minute, three-track EP called Extra-Capsular Extraction. The three cuts were titled "Eye Surgery," "Concepts," and "Problems." The rest of the material was shelved, as Earth began working on Earth 2, but the masters were allegedly stolen and unofficially released as a series of bootleg singles. They were also compiled on Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars. This Southern Lord-issued set marks the first time that the complete sessions have been assembled on one official release, totaling over 55 minutes. Here, the originally issued tracks have been renamed as the two-part "A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge" (in Carlsons response to the rest having been stolen and released without his consent) and "Problems" re-titled "Ouroboros Is Broken." The remaining four cuts, "Geometry of Murder," "German Dental Work," "Divine and Bright," and "Dissolution 1" fill out the set. Heard as a whole, this set doesnt sound nostalgic but revelatory, for the simple fact that its slow, deliberately restrained brutality is not only engaging, but hypnotic, doom-laden, serpentine, even beautiful. (The chugging midtempo uber-heavy riffing on "Geometry of Murder" is a shock to the system after the sludge of the first three cuts.) Not only is it not difficult to make it through the entire experience, but its nearly impossible not to. Its true that Earth became more aggressive on Earth 2, but here, the plod, drone, and feedback are nearly narcotic in their downtuned effect, full of unwavering strength and focus. For those who dont already possess these recordings, this edition -- with beautiful artwork by Simon Fowler and package design by Stephen OMalley -- is well worth the investment of both time and money. | ||
 | Album: 19 of 25 Title: Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I Released: 2011-02-07 Tracks: 5 Duration: 1:00:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Old Black (08:49) 2 Father Midnight (12:11) 3 Descent to the Zenith (07:30) 4 Hells Winter (11:32) 5 Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (20:24) |
 | Album: 20 of 25 Title: Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II Released: 2012-02-14 Tracks: 5 Duration: 45:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Sigil of Brass (03:32) 2 His Teeth Did Brightly Shine (09:00) 3 A Multiplicity of Doors (13:04) 4 The Corascene Dog (08:26) 1 The Rakehell (11:51) |
 | Album: 21 of 25 Title: Primitive and Deadly Released: 2014-09-02 Tracks: 5 Duration: 47:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Torn by the Fox of the Crescent Moon (08:54) 2 There Is a Serpent Coming (08:06) 3 From the Zodiacal Light (11:29) 4 Even Hell Has Its Heroes (09:43) 5 Rooks Across the Gates (09:03) |
| Primitive and Deadly : Allmusic album Review : Since guitarist Dylan Carlson re-formed Earth in 2003, the one constant has been endless exploration. From the exploded desert-like Americana atmospheres of Hex: Or Printing the Infernal Method right through the Angels of Darkness: Demons of Light series with their string players, Carlson and his collaborators have regarded tone, texture, dynamic, and space as elastic elements rife for inquiry. Through it all, Earth have retained a signature: their sound remains instantly identifiable. Primitive and Deadly integrates many of the musical tenets that have appeared on those previous recordings and combines them into a seamless -- albeit much heavier -- whole. Opener "Torn by the Fox of the Crescent Moon" is their weightiest cut since re-formation. Using a chugging, doomy, gargantuan riff, Carlson, drummer Adrienne Davies, bassist Bill Herzog, and additional guitarist Brett Nelson (Built to Spill) thunder along a tense, fuzz-blown path where guitar harmonics, distortion, and post-psych blues swell around the rhythm sections quake. Mark Lanegans vocals on "There Is a Serpent Coming" add exponentially to the platform. Fat glacial riffs, feedback, processional drums, and illustrative guitar effects frame his grainy voice and its apocalyptic occult narrative inside a blown-out, bluesy, cinematic Western style. The sets centerpiece -- and longest cut -- "From the Zodiacal Light" weds doom metals minimalism to a ferociously textured post-psych roar. The thudding chords and wrung-out single notes offer vocalist Rabia Shaheen Qazi (Rose Windows) a plateau to ascend, and she does. Her melodic elocution is as fierce as the wah-wah whammy bar and the sonic overdrive that whirl around her. The other instrumental here, "Even Hell Has Its Heroes," melds Carlsons sense of slow, weighty riff exposition and love of Jimi Hendrixs unhinged blues style. His lead guitar squall explores various tonal voicings within a two-chord vamp for over ten minutes. Layered, controlled feedback covers the backdrop as his bandmates hold it down. The sounds of bells and eerie chimes introduce "Rooks Across the Gate" as waves of dissonant thirds throb across the front; a minimal lead guitar statement sounds almost glissando contrasted with the sheer weight of the tunes riff. Lanegan adds a Celtic melodic inference in his weathered delivery to carry the haunted narrative. Randall Dunns Moog assists in illuminating Carlsons high-register fills to create another lyric voice, and soars above fingerpicked and strummed chords by Nelson and guest Jodie Cox (the Narrows). Davies uses the bell on her ride cymbal to underscore each repetitive passage until fadeout. Earths massive, plodding, serpentine approach on Primitive and Deadly reflects a new focus on lyric euphony and a renewed commitment to corporeal force. The pervasive, blinding darkness that saturates this bleak, sublime music is driven by the bands collective desire to seek ecstasy in the very heart of the void. | ||
 | Album: 22 of 25 Title: Boa / Cold Released: 2014-11-28 Tracks: 2 Duration: 12:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Boa (07:25) 2 Cold (05:16) |
 | Album: 23 of 25 Title: Concrete Desert Released: 2017-03-24 Tracks: 10 Duration: 1:07:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 City of Fallen Angels (06:14) 2 Gasoline (04:59) 3 Agoraphobia (05:10) 4 Snakes vs Rats (05:00) 5 Broke (05:00) 6 American Dream (10:16) 7 Don’t Walk These Streets (06:24) 8 Other Side of the World (05:52) 9 Hell A (04:21) 10 Concrete Desert (14:40) |
| Concrete Desert : Allmusic album Review : These two names on a recording offer -- at least initially -- a startling juxtaposition. Theres the Bug (aka Kevin Martin), king of compressed, signature bone-breaking beats that emerge from crushing mutant dancehall, grime, and twisted iconic dubstep; his is a signature sound created from crackle, crunch, and crush. Dylan Carlsons Earth -- of which he is the only constant member -- began as an ultraheavy, low-tuned metal drone outfit whose worship of microphonics and Black Sabbath-ian riffing made them icons. After two decades, they mutated, their sound becoming a spacious subgenre known as "ambient metal" that ever so slowly and deliberately explored aural cave dwelling in tone, timbre, harmonic, and dynamic before finding a middle ground that reintegrated some of their formerly doomy heaviness into the haunted spaces they discovered. Concrete Desert, recorded in Los Angeles, is worthy of its moniker. Theres a classic noir-ish vibe worthy of that city, as tracks offer haunting titles such as "City of Fallen Angels," "Dont Walk These Streets," "Gasoline," and "Agoraphobia." Almost all selections commence with Carlson offering dark, airy guitar and bass drones. Martin responds by adding often brittle beats that assist in creating a turnstile for this music to emerge from. When they commingle, squalling white noise, fragmented ambience, fractured polyrhythms, and prismatic feedback create atmospheres for suffocation. Monster bass loops can punctate the din, creating ever expanding layers of tension without respite. Its oscillations -- between hazy, dirgey riffs and looped, paranoia-inducing, lowrider subs -- deliver a thick, sludgy, 21st century kind of "bass music." "Snakes vs. Rats" is a jaw clencher, with its buzzy, hissing, bubbling bass and feedback machine-gun-fire snare layers, as the guitars sear the seams. The ten-minute-plus "American Dream -- the albums hinge -- is a mini soundtrack of black waft, bass string drone, and hinted-at fragmental melodies sans rhythm tracks. "Hell A" and the title cut are mirror images of one another as tension builds, semi-releases, and then ratchets up slowly until it resolves in nerve-shattering dread. Concrete Desert is far from relaxing, but chances are you already gathered that. While it is effective, at nearly 70 minutes, its better digested in small doses to better distinguish the multiplicity of textural, dynamic, and sonic strategies at work in individual pieces. | ||
 | Album: 24 of 25 Title: Live at Third Man Records Released: 2017-11-24 Tracks: 4 Duration: 35:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull (11:25) 2 Torn by the Fox of the Crescent Moon (09:28) 3 Old Black (08:38) 4 High Command (05:50) |
 | Album: 25 of 25 Title: Full Upon Her Burning Lips Released: 2019-05-24 Tracks: 10 Duration: 1:02:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Daturas Crimson Veils (12:15) 2 Exaltation of Larks (03:19) 3 Cats on the Briar (05:56) 4 The Colour of Poison (05:31) 5 Descending Belladonna (05:11) 6 She Rides an Air of Malevolence (11:27) 7 Maidens Catafalque (02:49) 8 An Unnatural Carousel (06:51) 9 The Mandrakes Hymn (05:03) 10 A Wretched Country of Dusk (04:28) |