The Skumfrog Album Project

[Skummy]

Inspired by, or rather directly ripping off Hammy's current undertaking, I too will be exploring my considerable CD collection, and offering critique and opinion along the way, perhaps stumbling across a lost gem or two along the way.

This will work in much the same way as Hammy's thread, with this post acting as a list holder, with ensuing posts being reviews and what-have-you.

Following rules are in places;

1) Only albums on CD will be considered - vinyl and downloads will be excluded for the time being. For one, I don't have a record player, but mostly it's just because it's a mammoth undertaking as it is.

2) An "album" will be defined as a studio album, for the most part. "Greatest hits", rarities collections and other such compilations, as well as "various artists" compilations will not be considered, and live albums will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Comedy albums - the likes of Derek & Clive, for example, will not be taken into consideration.

And while normally I'm opposed to arbitrary numerical judgments of music, for this I'm going to steal Hammy's rating system;

(Y) (Y) (Y) (Y) (Y)

(Y) (Y) (Y) (Y)

"The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" by Earth

(Y) (Y) (Y)

(Y) (Y)

(Y)

(N)

Edited October 8, 2009 by Skummy

[Skummy]

"The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" by Earth

2008

(Y)(Y)(Y)(Y) (4/5)

Full track listing:

1. "Omens and Portents I: The Driver"

2. "Rise To Glory"

3. "Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)"

4. "Engine Of Ruin"

5. "Omens and Portents II: Carrion Crow"

6. "Hung from the Moon"

7. "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull"

For those of you unfamiliar with the output of Earth, they defined the sound of "drone" - in its heavy metal-derived sense; all downtuned riffs, low rumbling and dissonant feedback - their albums "Earth 2" and "Sunn Amps And Smashed Guitars" not only providing a prototype for the sound that would stand for the better part of the next decade, but also providing the band names of two future drone bands - SunnO))), and Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine.

However, by the time "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" rolled around, Earth had been undergoing some subtle, but interesting changes. Their previous album, "Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method", and subsequent remixes and re-recordings of earlier material, had seen a shift in style only once before hinted at, on the earlier recording "Divine And Bright" (featuring Kurt Cobain on vocals) - gone was the feedback and distortion, and in its place was a country-tinged, almost Ennio Morriconne-esque sweeping soundtrack.

And on to the album in question - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull is a further step in the direction laid down on Hex. The album features no distortion, and while it's full of minor chords and a somewhat pervasive feeling of dread, it's not heavy, certainly not in the musical sense. It would be difficult to justify calling this a heavy metal album, and if it weren't for the band's previous output you wouldn't even consider it - this falls far closer to the post-rock camp, but even that seems an entirely incorrect designation; "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" doesn't feel "post-" anything. Perhaps you could dust off the old cliché that it's a soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist, but the music is too powerful, too alive in its own right to act as a backdrop to any given image - no, if you allow me a moment of complete pretension, it feels like the music found on "The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull" doesn't really belong to Earth, or to anyone - it's music that was always out there, waiting to be discovered, and just for a brief window in time, Dylan Carlson and company managed to tune into the soul of American music, the desolation and despair that permeates the outer limits of American music in a way comparable to perhaps only the almighty Jandek, but what they have on Jandek is that by doing so without words, this feels ever more timeless, conjuring images of empty desert plains before man, and equally of deserted and ruined highways long after we've gone.

Highlights - difficult to choose, as it's such a fluid album, but here goes nothing;

"Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)"

"Rise To Glory"

"Omens And Portents I: The Driver"

Low Point

"The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull" - though only because I had to name something.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Skummy

[Guest hAHAHAAhahkanaetartrs]

This ought to be more fun than Hammy's because you're more open minded and eclectic! :yes:

That Earth album has helped me daydream through many a long night train ride! Earth are wonderful. I saw them playing Earth 2 once live, it was a glorious experience.