Previously available on the out-of-print CDs Extra Capsular Extraction and Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars, the tracks collected on A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra Capsular Extraction represent the first recorded utterances of the entity known as Earth. Before drone metal became the overwhelming musical force it is today (at least in the hearts and minds of a tiny cult following), Seattle guitarist Dylan Carlson and his pals – including underground metalhead Joe Preston and a pre-stardom Kurt Cobain – sat down with guitars and amps cranked past the point of pain and zoned out on hard rock riffs slowed down nearly to the point of inertia. Joined by a drum machine (an accoutrement Carlson would abandon on subsequent LPs) and what sounds like a clear Godflesh influence, cuts like “Geometry of Murder,” “Dissolution 1” and the title track(s) sound at least somewhat more like traditional doom metal tunes than the ambient horror fuzz into which Carlson’s vision would evolve. Indeed, “Divine and Bright,” with guest vocals by Cobain, is an actual rock song that would be welcomed by adventurous Black Sabbath fans. The 18-minute riff spiral “Ouroboros is Broken,” though, drills down the rabbit hole with determined resolve in what would become the traditional Earth manner. Of course, Carlson has pretty much left distortion and aural pain behind in the last few years, going instead for a haunted, reverb-heavy sound like Ennio Morricone on downers. But if you miss the old Earth, the one that threatened to vibrate your bowels into voiding themselves without your consent, A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra Capsular Extraction may be just the hammer blow you need.
http://www.thronesandominions.com
http://www.southernlord.com
