Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

Earth
The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull
(02.2008, Southern Lord)
Verdict = Dusty, Doomy, Sluggish Instrumentals

Time to delve into the hype. Earth has been around almost as long as I have been alive scorching the way for the recently peaking doom metal scene. It seems that with their pedigree it is high time for some the band to be in the spotlight. Following suit with Wooly Mammal’s recent review of last year’s Hibernaculum, I decided to take on the newest beast from the burgeoning psych doom juggernauts. I don’t think it will be surprising to those who have already heard the record, but my initial reaction was confusing. After a 9-minute-plus opening track of recycling instrumental desert rock that moved at the pace of drugged brontosaurus (which I am going to assume is very slow) I was starting to feel a little slow myself. First of all, this is not doom metal. Obviously through 20 years of evolution the band is a bit beyond that. It still is kind of doomy though. There is a kick of dustiness that is at work in the cogs here. The album is essentially the crackle of said dust rotating infinitely to the repetitive riffs and aimless fills that accompany them ad infinitum. These are long, plodding songs that drift into the horizon with little evolution and no climax. As I’m sure the description will assert the tracks are not for everyone, but there is something in these ostensibly senseless Americana exorcisms that begins surface like bubbling oil; something almost transcendent. It is hard to put a finger on and it is even harder to convince anyone else of but it’s there. The question you will have to ask yourself is whether it is worth the journey.

-Mr. Thistle

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