Earth - Primitive and Deadly (2014)

Like with Yob, I've always been a passive fan, but "Primitive and Deadly" impressed me enough to consider it as a serious contender for doom album of the year. The slowed-down, bluesy repetitiveness that snakes its way through the length of the album is like the love-child of Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and Black Sabbath. The inclusion off guest vocals is what, I think, really cements "Primitive and Deadly" as Earth's best work to date. Mark Lanegan and Rabia Shaheen Qazi both have unique styles, but ones that converge on a gloomy, almost gothic common point.

Being recorded in a desert, "Primitive and Deadly" makes no secret of its emulation of the desert landscape. Take, for example, the wide open, simple chords and apocalyptic tone on standout "Rooks Across the Gate." This utterly haunting track speaks to the desert's mercilessness, sheer beauty, and glacial rate of change. One can easily imagine this as the soundtrack to the desert portions of "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Red Dead Redemption."

At the same time, despite the album's beauty, it has a steep learning curve. Ff the new Yob album is hard to get into, this album is even more challenging. There's very little in terms of dynamics here, (let alone on any other Earth album) so it requires a tremendous amount of patience to even begin to process it. Nevertheless, this is undoubtedly their finest work and one of the best drone albums (if it can be called that) I've heard.

8/10

 

Ulver/Sunn O))) - Terrestrials

Both Sunn O))) and Ulver are masters of experimental music, whether it be ambient or drone, and I was fully prepared to have my mind blown when I heard they were collaborating on an album. That didn't exactly happen, but my mind did go on quite a strange and long journey while listening to this. "Let There Be Light" starts off the album with soft, quiet droning pierced by a jazz-like background and, eventually, followed by free-flow drumming. It all goes together very well and creates a distinct sense of foreboding mixed with a certain degree of anticipation. However, once "Western Horn" comes in, that anticipation is gone and all that left is misery. It's an incredibly dark track that has me imagining the darkest scenes of the classic Apocalypse Now film. Everything about it oozes menace and doom. On "Eternal Return" we hear something much more akin to Ulver's most recent album "Messe I.X-VI.X" with strings and dark ambient noodling. The strings let up and eventually we hear the familiar sound of Garm's ethereal vocals which, in my opinion, really complete the album. "Terrestrials," while not as good as "Messe" or Sunn O)))'s most recent album "Monoliths and Dimensions," is a dark, psychedelic trip through the unknown that is sure to send a chill down the listener's spine. It represents the best of what both bands have to offer and I don't think there's much they could have done differently.
8.5/10

 

Flood - Native (2009)

Here's a pretty obscure doom album I came across on Youtube. It's dark, heavy, and brooding and, as another review points, out cleverly mixes the styles of Sunn O))) and Electric Wizard. So you get some grooves and you get some droney passages. Plus you get kvlt points for even knowing about this album in the first place ;) Overall it's a very solid release and I look forward to their second album.

Boris - Flood (2000)

 Boris have a reputation for being one of the heaviest bands on the planet and they prove that on this album. But they also prove that they can surround the elephantine riffs with some beautiful atmosphere. Truly one of the drone genre's finest albums.
9/10

Moss - Sub Templum (2008)

Now if you thought Ahab was difficult to get into, then meet one of the most inaccessible and heaviest bands in the world. Along with works by Sunn O))) and Boris, this album stands as a great example of drone metal. To say it's crushing is an understatement. It fills you with dread and suffocates you under the weight of its evil. The vocals sound like a deranged shaman summoning the forces of darkness. The riffs sound like they're dragging you into an immense black hole from which there is no return. Don't say I didn't warn you.
8/10