Earth are one of those bands that are sort of hard to explain to someone who has never experienced their style of music. Labled as "avant-experimental drone innovators", Earth play a moody form of instrumental rock that borders on ambient but focuses heavy on sludge and doom. For Hibernaculum the group takes a cleaner approach (minus most of the fuzz) to some older Earth tracks, plus the song "Plague of Angels", which was originally included on a 12" the band did with sun 0))). This one is a pretty interesting piece, with Dylan Carlson's ringing guitar patterns sounding like something out of a spooky Western soundtrack, with doomy accompaniment coming from drums, percussion, Mellotron, leslie Wurlitzer, trumet, and bass. Eerie stuff to say the least, and its epic length only adds to the drama that the band builds throughout. The other tracks all have that ominous feel, with splatterings of analog keyboards, effects laden guitar drones, and plodding drum work. "Ouroboros Is Broken" is especially chilling, with Adrienne Davies' massive doom drum blasts quaking alongside Carlson's jagged guitar moans and the swirling Hammond B-3 from Steve Moore.
The DVD documentary Within the Drone, filmed by Seldon Hunt, includes interviews with Dylan Carlson as well as live footage from Earth's 2006 European tour with sunn 0))). Hearing Carlson talk about his love for "slow" music is pretty fascinating, given that at times it's hard to understand how someone could have so much passion for music that is fairly monotonous as Earth's is. The live footage is a hoot, as the band lumbers through their creepy and ominous songs while the crowd looks on, hardly moving a muscle. Just goes to show you that even obscure music forms like the drone scene has its loyal followers. If you haven't yet discovered the world of Earth, this might be a good intro course to take the full plunge.
Track Listing
Disc: 1
1. Ouroboros Is Broken
2. Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor
3. Miami Morning Coming Down
4. Plague of Angels
Disc: 2
1. Within the Drone (DVD documentary)
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