Earth, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II: Through the Multiplicity of Doorways
One would be hard pressed to overstate Earth’s legacy. The long-running and relentlessly creative Seattle drone unit led by guitarist Dylan Carlson have, over the last 20-plus years, amassed an outstanding discography of influential work – from 1993’s Earth 2, which helped solidify the grooves now inherent to riff rock, to 2005’s Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method, which found a reformed Earth infusing their sound with elements from Americana the ripples of which are felt today in indie rock, dark folk and alternative metal. They didn’t do it alone, but they did it. In 2011, Earth followed 2008’s jazzy and defiant The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull with Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (review here), which moved further out of the shadow of Hex, bringing in Lori Goldston’s cello as a major focal point musically alongside Carlson’s guitar, the drums of Adrienne Davies and Karl Blau’s bass, and beginning to shift Earth’s attentions toward improvisation. The 20-minute closing title-track of that album was all improv, and with Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II (Southern Lord), Earth continue to expand on the ideas they presented in the first half, while also revealing more of the ever-changing band’s personality in this incarnation. Sonic congruencies abound – as one would expect, considering the two parts were recorded in the same sessions with Stuart Hallerman (who also helmed Earth 2) – but Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II does more than just continue the strain of its predecessor.
Goldston’s cello, again, is in a featured role, and superficially, the two Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light albums don’t vary much in mood or overall tone. Earth’s patience is just as prominent throughout the centerpiece “Waltz (A Multiplicity of Doors)” as it was on “Father Midnight” on I. The drive toward juxtaposition in track titles – songs like “Descent to the Zenith” and “Hell’s Winter” – seems to have dissipated on Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II, however, as “Sigil of Brass,” “His Teeth Did Brightly Shine” and “The Corascene Dog” are working, linguistically, in another vein. Perhaps it’s ironic or nitpicking to talk about language on an album that’s entirely instrumental, but titles and themes are an important part in how Earth sets the mood for a record or even a single track. One reads the minimalist interplay between Carlson and Blau differently as “Sigil of Brass” opens the album because of the track name. It’s also among the album’s moodiest pieces, and the shortest by nearly five minutes; the last could also lead to one seeing it as an introduction, but there’s enough substance to it to argue to the contrary as it gives way to the nine-minute “His Teeth Did Brightly Shine,” which, however “jammed” it might be – the quotes there to mark the distinction between what Earth are doing here and the usual ebb and flow of guitar-led jamming – still retains some clear compositional elements. If they’re improvising, they’re working from a base of prior construction – a starting point to get them going – and on “His Teeth Did Brightly Shine,” they’re doing so without Davies. As the song develops, that lack of clear drums can leave it feeling somewhat unhinged, but it’s hard to imagine that isn’t what Earth were going for, or at very least, that Carlson was pleased with the outcome when it was over.
By that standard, “Waltz (A Multiplicity of Doors)” is much more grounded. Slower, longer and immediate in its beginning – as opposed to developing gradually as Earth tracks often do – its 13-minute sprawl is perhaps most reminiscent of Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I, but it also boasts some of Goldston’s best work on the album. Just past the halfway point, she brilliantly counteracts Carlson’s guitar and works off the descending melody there with a crisp and avant feel that winds up as one of the record’s peaks. Blau’s bass is also central for the warmth it adds in following Carlson, and with Davies lending the gravity she does with her bass drum (as ridiculous as the cliché seems to use in relation to Earth’s material, so serene and sedate), the band is firing on all cylinders – it’s just that the cylinders aren’t all that loud. What they are instead is encompassing, and “Waltz (A Multiplicity of Doors” is definitely that, as is “The Corascene Dog,” which follows and keeps the dirge progression going. The influencing concept of both Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light records, sonically, was acid folk, and those elements show up somewhat on “The Corascene Dog,” but really, it’s Earth being Earth, and nothing is so prevalent in the sound of these tracks as that. Carlson can’t help but lead his band in a direction purely his own at this point, whether they’re improvising their way there or not. As the closer, “The Rakehell” has a lot of pressure put on it in comparison to the totally-improvised, 20-minute “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light” from the last installment, but at 11:51, it stands on its own and follows the semi-guided ethic that much of Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II seems to be using.
It is consistent tonally and mood-wise with what’s come before it, but “The Rakehell” might just earn its name from the natural drone that Goldston enacts as she slowly draws her bow across the strings of her cello. Later into the song, she becomes a base layer on which Carlson, Blau and even Davies seem to be resting, Carlson finding room for a few injected lead notes around the halfway point. The overall motion of the song, though is similar to what Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II has put on offer, and by and large, the album feels less like a sequel capitalizing on the ideas of the first installment than it does a completion of a whole single unit, or perhaps a collection of complementing remnants that strengthens the first by revealing more of the process that went into making it. However you choose to read it, Earth’s drive toward improvisation is important for what it might mean in terms of the band’s future work, and as Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II remains in line with the preceding record, an overarching musical thematic does feel present, even if the album’s triumph might be more in the procedure or construction than in the expansion of the sonics themselves. In that way, the expectation of something different that Earth seem to set for themselves with each ensuing album holds them back here – since it’s largely the same approach – but it also makes having the two full-lengths as part of the same single unit that much more apt. In any case, as Earth has already lost Blau on bass, one hopes Carlson and Davies – the central duo – can keep Goldston contributing in the lineup at least for a while, because if nothing else, the sheer glut of material that occurs across the two Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light records speaks to the creative spark at work in the band at this point. With the increase in chemistry that road time brings and the experience at studio-based improvisation they’ve gained recording these songs, Earth could easily be marking the beginning of a new era.
Tags: Earth, Seattle, Southern Lord, Washington
