Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 (Southern Lord)
I've long been a fan of expansive, expressive music that evokes distant horizons and wide-open vistas, whether tropical and gorgeous or desolate and haunting. Right now, no band pulls this off better than Earth, particularly with the trio of albums they've released since their return to the scene in the middle of last decade. Both 2005's Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method and 2008's The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull moved the band from the amp-shattering doom drone of the first part of their career to a more visual approach that evoked epic soundtrack work more than anything else. More specifically, those two releases painted vivid images of the American South (the former) and Southwest (the latter), recalling at times the work of Ennio Morricone. Both were gorgeous listens and helped to cement Earth's reputation as one of the most inspiring bands unfairly relegated to the metal "ghetto" in some minds. This year's release, the promisingly titled Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1, builds upon that same sound, but scoots it ever so slightly into new territory. Their sound is, if possible, even more sparse and wide open than on previous excursions, sanding down the instrumentation to the core of Dylan Carlson's guitar, Adrienne Davis' drums, Karl Blau's bass, and, as a new ingredient, the cello of Lori Goldston. Each song slides along at its own easy pace, anchored by Davis' sublime drumming (seriously, I've never heard a drummer play this slowly yet sound so mesmerizing) and Blau's bass. Carlson's guitar becomes much of the focus, poking out in exploratory bursts, creeping and slithering along. The cello gives the proceedings a grander, more classical feel, reaching way back in time and evoking atmospheric sounds of the European Old World.
It all adds up to great mood music, but that also brings me to the album's one not insignificant shortcoming. While its thrilling to hear these guys conjure up a setting with so few instruments, the album starts to run a little long in the tooth with no variation in tempo or intensity. I feel like this is all build-up with no climax, as beautiful as it sounds. With a Neil Young referencing song title like "Old Black", I was hoping for a few unpredictable bursts of feedback that the band fought to control, a little chaos to emphasize the beauty. But maybe that will come with part two when (and if) it comes out next year and this was all the slow build to a huge payoff. I love the tone and mood throughout, I just wish we could catch of few glimpses of the old earth-shattering, speaker-blowing Earth between longing looks into the horizon.
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