Fuck! What happened here? Earth are definitely not messing about on their new record - the heaviest thing the band have done in over a decade. I can get behind this! Since their reformation / regrouping, Earth have been all about calm, serene, bright and wavering tones; colossal monuments of clean guitar work and uplifting instrumental soundscapes - almost like the shoegazing equivalent of their early drone days. But this is something else entirely. Someone finally decided to turn Earth's amps up, and I couldn't be happier with that decision.
The Bees Made Honey... is one of my favourite things ever, and I loved the first part of Angels Of Darkness Demons Of Light, with it's dusty, haunting, almost western sound. The second part of that double album was much, much more sparse, and I must admit I lost interest a bit, with Earth's already stripped back sound being reeled in even further (I gotta say though, the bass playing was pretty funky).
I'm not sure if I'm entirely sold on the inclusion of guest vocalists (Rabia Shaheen Qazi and sometimes-QOTSA collaborator Mark Lanegan) but the reappearance of distortion in Earth's work has made a world of difference for me. It's not as if it is overpowering in any way, or like it even detracts from the subtleties going on around the guitar, it's just that everything sounds much more alive and vital - something that can do no harm for a band as far into their career as Earth.
Enter a shimmering, mesmerising desert of sonic absolution.
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