Earth “Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method” [Southern Lord]

Dylan Carlson drone metal god? You bet your sweet ass you cursed son of a bitch. The man’s a slow-riffin’ bittersweet dirge dishin’ dignitary, luring lethargic lead heavy gloom from the shadow horizon. Hex is powerfully dark in its presentation but equally melancholy and reflective. Carlson and, now permanent member, Adrienne Davies fashion lush wholly instrumental audio environments with sparse echoing percussion, wind chimes, bereaved string manipulations, long drawn out & sustained tones, and a serenely reverb grim groove. Sunken hearted & crestfallen surfers would totally grasp this semi-somber sound as they peer down the line before dropping in to a slowly pitching wave. Thematic, emotional, haunting, uneasy, strangely soothing, subtle & sentimental this is what you might imagine hearing while overlooking the vast ocean swell as the blazing orange sun slips silently into the deep. Carlson realizes the power behind setting a solid mood versus incessant staccato picking, rabid power strumming, and flaunting excessive technical prowess over the fret board just to prove he’s versatile. You don’t need to when you truly feel the music coursing through you and personify it as convincingly as the members of Earth do on Hex. Phenomenally brilliant!

HAIKU REVIEW:
Slothful dirge commences
Sustain pensive tranquil gloom
Terra firma drone