Earth: A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra Capsular Extraction

I have tried, but you know what? "Drone" just isn't for me. I've listened to quite a few bands in recent times to try and discover what the attraction of this snail's crawl doom is, but I just do not understand the appeal of music that sounds like an old 7" single played a 33rpm. Unfortunately the rather cumbersomely titled A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra Capsular Extraction has only confirmed my distaste for this stuff.

The album itself is a compilation of sorts, with the releases Extra Capsular Extractions EP and Sunn Amps And Smashed Guitars being grouped together. Earth themselves and some of the recordings here are seen as where drone started and if this style of monotonous, strung out guitar bashing and on the whole percussion-less dirge excites you (if that is the right word?), then there's no doubt that ABDFECE will be an intriguing historical landmark and for that alone, this release deserves respect. For me however the fourteen minutes that make up "A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge (Parts I&II)" is a tiring walk through swampy waters that saps your energy with every step. There's no let up from the seemingly endless dirge of monotone guitars and so hard to latch onto is this, that I actually found myself becoming fixated on the metallic "hammer-strike" beat that brought the vaguest sense of colour to proceedings. Things do ease up with the Sabbath played at half speed that is "Geometry Of Murder", but as with everything else here, even when a good idea or riff is discovered, it is played to death over a period of minutes that only serves to blunt the initial attack.

I've no doubt that for disciples of this genre, that my thoughts may be seen as blasphemy, but this is the first release I've heard from Southern Lord Records, that I can hand on heart tell you won't revisit my CD player.

Track Listing
01. A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge, Part 1
02. A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge, Part 2
03. Ouroboros Is Broken
04. Geometry of Murder
05. German Dental Work
06. Divine and Bright
07. Dissolution 1

Added: January 21st 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Southern Lord Records
Hits: 2737
Language: english

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