Primitive And Deadly

Dylan Carlson has developed what is arguably the most influential guitar tone of the late 20th century. If you like heavy guitars at all, chances are your favorite band worships Earth. After kicking several substance habits circa 2005, Carlson switched off the distortion and crafted a lush, poignant spaghetti-western sound that was no less heavy than the explosive drone. Enough beating around the bush: this is Earth’s finest work to date. I mean, holy fucking shit, this is devastatingly beautiful. Carlson combines everything excellent about every phase of the band, from the monolithic tube feedback to the scorched-earth balladry. Each song was edited from hour-long jams recorded in Joshua Tree, but guest vocals make some tracks feel more song-like and less soundscape-ish. Best album of the decade? Century? Millennium? Probably. (FCC Clean)
File under: dinosaur extinction, the Nazca lines, Black Sabbath + Neil Young + Linda Ronstadt performing Wagner’s Ring Cycle in the Mojave desert

1. (8:54) straight-up evil as shit doom metal riffs, menaching open-string chugging with some vaguely baroque harmonies (Instrumental)
2. (8:07) Guest vox from Mark Lanegan. If Hendrix joined Iron Maiden and they all took a fuckton of valium and mescaline…
3. (11:29) FUCKING EPIC! Guest vox from Rabia Shaheen Qazi; imagine a High Priestess of Satan chanting on a morphine drip with Ennio Morricone writing the guitar parts.
4. (9:44) The most overtly bluesy track, reaches Swans levels of epic with tubular bells accompanying. (Instrumental)
5. (8:58) first 30 secs are very quiet scraping bell sounds, then erupts into a massive desert-rock anthem, almost with a folksy gait; Mark Lanegan contributes vocals again.