Hibernaculum

by Thom JurekArriving in 2007, Hibernaculum, a beautifully packaged CD/DVD combination issued on Southern Lord, proves that the change in sound that Earth mastermind and guitarist Dylan Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies created on Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method was no one-off. On the CD version of the set, Earth cover three tunes from their previous incarnation as pioneering heavy metal drone masters, including the cut "A Plague of Angels," previously available only on a rare tour-only split 12" (with Sunn 0)))), all done in the "Hex" manner. On first glance -- and perhaps even on first listen -- with only 36 minutes of music included on the CD, this might appear to be a stop-gap on the way to a new album; it's seemingly more in line with the demos and other oddities Carlson had issued in the group's previous incarnation before he disbanded it. Having resurrected the band in 2000, Carlson decided to follow this different tack: playing music that is heavy in a very different way. Snaky long guitar lines are played with a restrained force, little distortion or feedback, and no drones. The hypnotic effect is achieved more from the repetition of the guitar patterns themselves and the space in between them. It's usually trebly and contains single lines as well as chord changes, with slow droning riffs that rely on the microphonics of volume to achieve their effect. It's given a flourish by Davies and bassists Don McGreevy and Jonas Haskins, and some analog synth sound coloration by Sunn 0)))'s Greg Anderson on the first two cuts, "Ouroboros Is Broken" and "Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor." These two cuts, which lead into the last two, are heavy because of their intentional restraint. The music isn't pretty; it touches upon everything including Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Western film cues and even a warped form of desert country music that could have come from Tucson in the 1980s. ... Read More...