Earth

Earth are an experimental metal and rock group from Olympia and Seattle, active since 1990. The band is led by guitarist Dylan Carlson and is known for almost entirely instrumental music built around slow tempos, repetition and long-form structures.

Formation and early sound

The group forms in 1989 around Dylan Carlson, Slim Moon and Greg Babior, and takes its name from Black Sabbath’s original title. Its early recordings use heavy distortion, droning guitars and minimalism, and are strongly associated with the development of drone metal. Carlson remains the central figure through the band’s changes in line-up.

Earth 2 and drone metal

Earth 2 is widely treated as a key release in the band’s catalogue and a milestone for drone metal. It presents three long tracks built from feedback and distorted guitars, and helps define the template for what Carlson describes as “ambient metal”.

Hiatus and later style

After Pentastar: In the Style of Demons, the band stops for a period while Carlson deals with personal problems, including heroin addiction, rehabilitation, his connection to Kurt Cobain’s death and incarceration. When Earth returns around 2000, the sound stays slow and drone-based but becomes less distorted and begins to include drummer-led arrangements, along with country influences.

Later releases extend that shift further. Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method draws on country guitarists and songwriters such as Duane Eddy, Merle Haggard and Roy Buchanan, and on the music of Ennio Morricone. The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull reflects an interest in adventurous late-1960s and 1970s San Francisco jazz-rock, while Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I is shaped by British folk-rock groups including Pentangle and Fairport Convention.

Line-up and related facts

Earth’s members include Dylan Carlson, Joe Preston, Adrienne Davies, Ian Dickson, Steve Moore and John Schuller. Outside the underground music scene, Carlson is also known for his friendship with Kurt Cobain and for buying the gun for him before Cobain’s death. Cobain also sings lead vocals on “Divine and Bright”, which appears on a demo included with the re-release of Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars.