Band:	Earth
Album:	Earth 2 - Special Low Frequency Version
Style:	Drone doom metal
Release date:	February 1993

01. Seven Angels
02. Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine
03. Like Gold And Faceted

Woah woah wait wait, EXCUUUUUSE ME... how in the [BAD WORD] has no one reviewed this big ball of legendary yet? Doc? Lucas? Not even you, Old Bitter Sheriff? Well..... I saw it first, then.

So yeah, bruh. Drone. Within the musical spectrum, it's basically a heavier form of ambient music that focuses (like nearly all ambient music) on extended periods of feedback and atmosphere. What notes are being played and the semblance of any melody or harmony, at least in the traditional sense, somewhat fly out the window in favor of the creation of a dense, smothering, "wall of sound" approach. As drone music evolved in the 20th century, first there was a bit of experimentation and crystallization of it as a legitimate genre in the late 50s and further into the 60s, with the work of artists such as LaMonte Young, The Velvet Underground, and others. It wasn't until much later, in the early 90s, that drone techniques would begin slithering into the metal genre.

One of the first bands to incorporate such techniques into their metal, and still a tremendous force within the drone genre, was of course Earth from Seattle. Originally revolving purely around multi instrumentalist Dylan Carlson (drummer Adrienne Davies would come later in the 2000s), Earth emerged in 1990, and by 93 was ready to debut with their first LP, Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version.

Musically, the songwriting here is not nearly as subtle and layered as later Earth material would become. Yet this is rather unimportant when one considers the sheer gravity and hypnotism contained in the compositions herein when compared against nearly everything else that was being released in metal for 93. When Earth came through with this debut, Dylan Carlson himself dubbed their style "Ambient metal," and it is quite easy to see, in listening, exactly what he was talking about. The album kicks off with "Seven Angels," and this is as powerful a demonstration of the new principles going into what would ultimately become drone doom metal as any. It is doom, sure, but not overly fleshed out, revolving more around a central, repeating riff with minor variations as opposed to several riffs, vocals, and more "traditionalist" songwriting structure. This would become the standard, and indeed, within the next 10 years following the release of Earth 2, other bands who would go on to become titans in their own right, such as Sunn O))), Boris, and Nadja, would successfully build upon that standard.

Interestingly enough, the principle of "Ambient metal" extends itself here not merely in a drone doom manifestation, but in a more formless, atmospheric approach as well. The latter two tracks on Earth 2, "Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine" (the title of which would inspire a lovely, short - lived drone supergroup down the line) and especially "Like Gold And Faceted" are noticeably less riff - driven than "Seven Angels," focusing more on straight guitar feedback and that smoky, eerie "wall of sound" haze mentioned earlier. This was also an important frame of reference, one that would serve as a likely lightning rod of inspiration to the drone bands who would come later (both within as well as potentially outside of the metal genre) and opt to go for more of a noisey, static - y, and overall less structured delivery with their work.

Although Earth would ironically not stay in their drone doom persona for long after the release of Earth 2 (until about 1996's Pentastar), Earth 2 in itself still ended up serving as a pretty monumental, almost revolutionary take on both doom metal as well as the idea of making metal more destructured and atmospheric in general. It may strike some as funny or unusual that an album with such simplistic, baseline composition could come off as so groundbreaking and subsequently inspire so many other artists. But that is exactly the point if nothing else: the fact that sometimes, when it comes to artistic evolution, the answer lies not necessarily in adding more to the equation, but in subtracting more from the equation.

Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version turned 30 years old this very year. Hats off and congratulations to Dylan Carlson and the legacy he established not just for himself but for drone in general with this album. Although Earth may have evolved beyond this sound into compositions I and probably others enjoy a lot more, this still remains their crucial foundational root. And three decades later, it is still a pretty damn colossal root at that.

Go in HEAVY and LOUD, ideally on a nice pair of Bose or Skull Candies.