282: Dylan Carlson

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 282 features an interview with Dylan Carlson of Earth.

[cover image illustrated by Richey Beckett, based on a photo by Marylene Mey]

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Bandcamp Picks - Earth, Yawning Man, Pelican, Odyssey, Pinkish Black

After a few years touring and recording on his own, Dylan Carlson has reunited with Adrienne Davies for Earth's ninth album. Full Upon Her Burning Lips captures Carlson's guitar in its full twanging glory, with a growing flair that separates the band's modern era from the austere doom/drone of its early albums. Meanwhile, Davies' minimalist beats give the riffs the somber foundation they need. The last Earth album surprised fans with the addition of vocals; this time around, the duo sticks to being strictly an instrumental band, but the beauty of Earth always was their ability to tell stories without words. [$9.99]



Before there was "desert rock" there was Yawning Man. Macedonian Lines shows that the veteran band's knack for crafting spacey instrumentals is as sharp as ever, with crystalline guitars snaking over distorted bass lines, splitting the difference between space rock, desert rock, and post-rock. Feet in the valley with eyes to the sky. [€8.50]



Pelican have been carrying the flag for indie metal longer than most. Written in tribute to Jody Minnoch of Tusk (the grindcore band that included members of Pelican), Nighttime Stories brings the band back to the heaviness of their first albums, embedding speedy drums and crushing riffs amidst the melody and atmosphere that made the band so beloved by Pitchfork and the like. They may not seem as revolutionary as they did in the previous decade, but few instrumental bands have managed to be as heavy and emotive simultaneously as Pelican. [$7.99]



It's been a while since I checked in on Spokane's Odyssey - they were one of my OG Bandcamp Picks, and I'm happy to say they're still active. The Swarm, the trio's fourth full-length studio album, is ultra-heavy, hammering that double-bass drumming through thrashing riff-fests and syncopated chugging. Putting the pedal to the instrumental. [$7]



We're in the midst of a synth rock renaissance thanks to Stranger Things, and few of those bands are as heavy as Texans Pinkish Black.  Concept Unification (an album inspired by ...wait for it ...the animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese) takes its cues from Seventies horror soundtracks - particularly the work of Goblin and John Carpenter - using eerie keyboards as the framework for the band's doomy aesthetic, as well as a backdrop for Darren Beck's doleful monotone. Neon-tinted gloom. [$10]

via GIPHY

Dylan Carlson, Stephen Brodsky, and Kevin Hufnagel @ Saint Vitus

A trio of guitarists playing solo sets was an unlikely choice for my first show back in NY, but the guitarists in question - Earth's Dylan Carlson, Cave In's Stephen Brodsky, and Gorguts' Kevin Hufnagel - are as metal as all get out. Plus, a night where a group of musicians stripped their musical identities down to the bare essentials was appealing to me since I believe that art should be separated from artifice, and that too many metalheads confuse the presentation with the actual music. And hell, now that all my friends are responsible adults with wives and kids, what else could I do on a Sunday night except hang out with all the other aging heshers unmoored by family obligations?

The Long Hundred: Redux

A while back I announced that I was working on a series of posts called "100 Albums I'm Glad I Heard Before I Died."; the idea was to write about albums that had a profound effect on me, that changed me in some way, or that I felt lucky to have heard. That was 3 years ago, and I have yet to post a single one. [Anyone who knows me is probably used to big ideas with no follow through.]  Instead, I started a podcast, focused my spare time on writing and recording my death metal project, and grew to despise my own writing thousands of time. Doing a hundred posts seemed like it required more of a time commitment than I was prepared to make.

Bandcamp Picks: Earth, Dread Sovereign, Iron Void, Cardinal Wyrm

After the double dose of tepidness that was Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light, Earth come roaring back with Primitive and Deadly. Since 2005, Dylan Carson has been carving out his own niche of western tinged, psychedelic doom/drone, and the results here are nothing short of sublime. Vocals - a rarity in the Earth canon - are used sparingly but to good effect, courtesy of Rose Windows' Rabia Shaheen Qazi and the Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan (lest anyone forget Earth's grunge/Subpop cred]. This is the best thing the band have done since 2008's The Bees Made Honey, and possibly even better than that. [$7.99]



Dread Sovereign is the doomy, Satan-loving brainchild of Primordial's Alan Averill. Owing perhaps to the genre bending of his main band, All Hell's Martyrs isn't just heavy but surprisingly inventive, alternating between bluesy Sabbathness and a more droning, atmospheric approach. This should tide Primordial fans waiting for the next full-length, as well as anyone hungering for a doom band that isn't the usual dredged up sludge. [€7]



Is it me, or is there a doom metal renaissance going on in the North of England? Iron Void stomp heavy boots of lead like a less manic Orange Goblin, or a less bluesy Spirit Caravan. All the true doom ingredients are present on their self-titled debut: unabashed Iommi worship, Ozzy-ish warbling, topless chick on the cover... why isn't this on Rise Above? [Note: A standalone download isn't available yet, though one comes when you order the CD, which is £10].



Even though their songs average 8 minutes, you'll know whether Cardinal Wyrm is for you or not within seconds; if the operatic singing doesn't send you in the opposite direction screaming (or laughing), then you'll find a fantastic slab of tote bag metal. Somewhere between Sleep and Therion, Black Hole Gods finds a balance between earth rumblingly heavy and shamelessly melodramatic. Frankly, I'm kind of surprised by how much I'm digging this; but considering how highly I rate the similarly eclectic Grayceon, maybe I shouldn't be. [$8]

"More meditative than violent."

Found this very good article from New York magazine about "doom metal," written back in 2007. The author, Joe Hagan, is a non-metal fan who writes about Boris, Sunn, and Southern Lord Records, without the insincerity or condescension that usually accompanies these kinds of articles in the mainstream media. I'm not a huge fan of Southern Lord, but props to anything that earns this kind of sincere and intelligent praise from an actual journalist. Classic quotes from the article:

"Imagine if someone put a microphone to rows of ocean waves battering a rocky shore and then ran the result through distortion pedals and a wall of eight-foot amplifiers."

"Little wonder that doom-metal bands have names that wouldn’t be out of place at the local yoga center: Om, Ocean, Earth. It’s extreme-volume therapy, a spa treatment in black Satan T-shirts."

Welcome to the dark side, Mr. Hagan. If all-encompassing doom/drone floats your boat, then someone needs to send you the Black Boned Angel discography, immediately.