Earth
 

Somebody mentioned to me in my intro thread that not a lot of people on here have talked about Earth... Too bad because they fuckin rule. I'm going to do a little run-through of their albums here just for kicks... I hope this is the right way to go about this (and even the right forum area). Anyway, here goes...

Earth has been creating music since 1990 and is the brainchild of Dylan Carlson, most well known for being the friend of Kurt Cobain that lent him the shotgun (that sentence is a grammatical nightmare). He plays guitar and recruits a rotating list of partners with which to record and tour with. They are often referred to as Drone Doom, but especially recently their records have been more upbeat or uplifting while still retaining a Drone sound. In fact, the band does quite a lot of experimentation within the Drone genre and has inspired many offshoots and other bands in specific areas. I don't know all the albums or EPs but I know most and I know generally the most popular. They are signed to Southern Lord, like all good bands.

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/2/8/2/22822.gif

Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version is Earth's first full-length and pioneered the drone-doom sound. If you like this album, Sunn O))) has basically committed their music careers to emulating and building on this album. The album is only three songs long:

# Title Length
1. "Seven Angels" 15:38
2. "Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine" 27:04
3. "Like Gold and Faceted" 30:31

I have it on vinyl and it's decent. I am more of a fan of Earth's later material but I think it's important to have/listen to this album to see where they came from. There are no drums except for some parts of "Like Gold and Faceted" and the album overall mostly consists of multiple layers of guitar and bass. As befitting the drone/doom sound, it's very low, detuned, somewhat oppressive, sludgy, and all-encompassing, especially when played loud (as it should always be). Once I got home from a full day of traveling, turned on Earth 2 and passed out into a weird trance-like zen sleep in which I imagined myself to be gibbering madly and twitching like a neanderthal exposed to 4chan. This album is often described as sounding like an earthquake, as if a mountain is speaking down to you as a petulant child.

Next album up when I get home tonight.

The only album I've heard or found thus far is The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull. And I really dig it. It's good music for when I'm working nights. I find that it's really good when followed up with Grails' Doomsdayer's Holiday.

I have also only heard "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" and I really liked it. Not exactly the type of music I'd listen to on an everyday basis, but it's great for if I'm writing. I really should check out more stuff by this band.

If there were No EARTH-that would mean no sunn-boris-etc.and no >S T A N O S A U R<. thats me and my many sunn amps&cabinets doing the one man thangg...
met dylancarlson here in sf-very cool guy-with his head on straight. EARTH 2 is the very best of music IMO

Nice thread. Surprise, surprise - I, too, have only heard The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull. I can't wait for the reviews.

I should be sleeping as I have work at 9am tomorrow, but here's another since I promised.

http://ogami.subpop.com/bands/earth/earth-292.gif

Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions is Earth's second full-length. This album is Earth's first exploration of more riff-based tracks, and is often described as a collection of guitar licks without context. This doesn't mean it's bad, though. I admittedly haven't explored Phase 3 properly yet, but it is generally more "listenable" than Earth 2 excepting certain tracks (Lullaby and Phase 3: Agni Detonating etc.). This album acts of kind of a bridge between the brutal sluggishness of Earth 2 and the bands' later more layered and clean-guitar based sound. This album is already quite a departure from the tones that Sunn O))) and others adopted soon after. Similarly to Earth 2, the entire album consists of only two guitarists (mainly Carlson) and a drummer that only appears on one track (Site Specific). I find this album to be sparse compared to the other Earth albums; it is less "busy" with overlapping sounds and occupies less sonic "space" than the other albums. Where Earth 2 was crushing and blanketing and Pentastar is upbeat and open, Phase 3 is at times quiet, staccato, droning, light, and heavy. I think it's a good introduction to the sound of Earth as it showcases some of the styles that Earth used and has continued to experiment with over the years. That said, it feels incomplete at times and at worst thrown-together. I like the first two and the final two tracks the most.

If you guys like The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull I definitely recommend checking out Hex, an amazing album with a similar sound that they did a few years earlier. In fact everything I've heard by them is pretty stellar and they have changed their sound a lot of the years which makes their discography an intriguing listen overall. Like Hesher mentioned Earth 2 is way different from their newer stuff, just long stripped down slabs of guitar noise, and their album Pentastar: In the Style of Demons is more like stoner metal, with shorter songs and, shockingly enough, even vocals.

HEY! I'm doing the review here, buddy. Git yer own thread! :p

Thanks for all the great advice/info, guys. I'm just now exploring this band and you guys are helping a lot. Does anyone happen to have Hex upped?

HEY MAN I HEARD ABOUT THIS 'HUM' THIGN THAT PEOPLE HEAR. YOU KNOW LIKE A CONTINUOUS DRONE. WELL I THOUGHT I HEARD IT THE OTHER DAY, BUT IT WAS JUST EARTH 2 B)

I like their later stuff.