Recently Earth, the highly influential doom/drone band from Seattle turned 21, and sealed the occasion by book-ending their entire career.
A few months back saw the release of A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Activity, a capturing of their complete first recording session in Smegma Studios. And it makes sense for any fans of avant-garde metal to be able to contrast this punishing sonic manifesto with their most recent collection, Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light 1, their sixth studio album to date.
And while the abyssal drones and cataclysmic banks of sludge doom that typified early albums such as Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version have long since gone, they’re still exploring some of the stylistic changes that were ushered in with the Americana-infused Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method in 2005.
However Dylan Carlson (guitars) and Adrienne Davies (drums) – this time joined by Lori Goldstone (cello) and Karl Blau (bass) – have ventured geographically much further abroad, while still maintaining an interest in rural textures. The warm tones of the title track recalls the dusty desert blues of Tinariwen or Tamikrest, slowed down to the rate at which sand dunes move forwards, and elsewhere the pre-doom folk rock of Pentangle is summoned up delightfully.
