Earth 2 (album)
Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version, also known as simply Earth 2, is the first full-length studio album by the American drone metal band Earth. Produced by Earth and Stuart Hallerman, it was released on February 5, 1993, on Sub Pop Records. The album was highly influential in the development of the drone music and drone metal genres.[2] Celebrated as a "milestone" by Terrorizer's Dayal Patterson, he described it as "a three-track, 75 minute deluge of feedback and distorted guitars that marked the blueprint for what lead singer/guitarist Dylan Carlson at the time coined 'ambient metal'".[3]
| Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 5, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | August 1992, at Avast Studios, Seattle, Washington | |||
| Genre | Drone metal, minimalism, ambient | |||
| Length | 73:13 | |||
| Label | Sub Pop (SP185) | |||
| Producer | Earth, Stuart Hallerman | |||
| Earth chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  |
Critical reception
Ned Raggett of Allmusic gave the album a positive review, stating: "If Carlson and his bassist du jour, in this case Dave Harwell, weren't quite Sub Pop's answer to the ranges of UK guitar extremism from the likes of Godflesh, Main, and Skullflower, Earth still came pretty darn close to it, creating a record even the Melvins would find weird." He added: "Earth 2 dedicates itself to the proposition that there's no such thing as too loud, trudging, or doom-laden." while describing the closing track as "ambient music completely and totally suffused with threat and fuzz."[1]
Alan Licht, in his third list of minimalist classics,[4] wrote "Unlike a lot of more recent noise underground stuff, which (to me) is relatively factorable, this is technically boggling drone music--the sustain is achieved not just with distortion but through overdubbing, and there's clean guitars in there too--even on headphones it's hard to tell what the fuck they're really doing. On this album, Earth set up a drone and place a few choice metal riffs against it over the course of forty minutes, at which point they just let the drone chord ring for another half hour... Hard to remember how completely unfashionable this was in the heyday of grunge..."
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Seven Angels" | 15:38 |
| 2. | "Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine" | 27:04 |
| 3. | "Like Gold and Faceted" | 30:31 |
| Total length: | 73:13 | |
Personnel
- Dylan Carlson – guitar
- Dave Harwell – bass guitar
- Joe Burns – percussion on "Like Gold and Faceted"
References
- Ragget, Ned. "Earth 2". Allmusic. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- "More than Words". Spin. 27 (4): 54. May 2011. ISSN 0886-3032.
- Patterson, Dayal (November 2005). "A Spell in the Wilderness". Terrorizer (137): 18–19.
- http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=135