On Thursday night pioneering drone act Earth will be playing at the Empty Bottle. The band, whose original lifespan lasted from 1989 to 1997, got back together about ten years ago and have since been exploring mellow, acoustic, pretty, psych-folk experiments—and while recent Earth material is great, it doesn’t quite do it for me like their early work. When the band, led by Dylan Carlson, started out, they focused on super-slow-motion sludge-metal riffage, sounding almost like Black Sabbath slowed down beyond any comprehension. This doom-drone metal created a monstrous, never-ending wall of sound that went on to influence other insanely heavy bands like SunnO))), Boris, and Pelican. Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is “Seven Angels,” the first cut off Earth’s first LP proper, 1993’s Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version, and at 15 minutes long, the shortest number on the landmark album. Be prepared to get lost in this one.
