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