Haze
Earths second album, Earth 2, is a hypnotic masterpiece. A genre defining piece of drone metal, responsible for a legion of followers, and the creation of a whole new field of dense escapist metal that was paired back to it's most elemental core. Three tracks, played ultra slowly and spread out over an hour, Earth 2 is an essential work that manages to combine the experimental work of avant-garde minimalist composers with Black Sabbath. Originally released on Sub-Pop in 1993, Earth 2 was essentially unmarketable, but has become a clear cult favorite since. Even the Melvin’s at their height never played anything this slow or this heavy, it’s as ambient as Brian Eno’s early work, and yet heavier than anything that came before, loaded with feedback, fuzz and the magnificence of doom and grimness played as slow it is possible to play. This is mainman, Dylan Carlsons’, masterpiece, he’s gone on to make further Earth albums, and these too are magnificent, although very differently focused. You can’t better this. Without this there would be no Sunn O))), no Corrupted, No Black Boned Angel… the list goes on. Earth 2 gave everyone an excuse to slow it down, make it heavier and to just breathe. Essential.