Earthless - From The Ages

[renfield]

Thank god fucking EARTHLESS have a new record.

They are the sort of project where you hear a song and say "okay that's the absolute limit of what they can do along these lines; about time somebody finally took this idea to its logical conclusion, now we can move on to something else."  And then you listen to another Earthless song and admit that you were wrong, and so forth.

Earthless is where you are playing with your band, more than a bit buzzed and just fucking around, jamming, but then everything just clicked together and suddenly a fully formed song emerged from your collective fingertips and oh fuck, if only we had been recording.  Except you were.

Which is not to say that they won't also turn around and allow you to attend their fractalized riffage master class.  Earthless' space rock operatics never get too lost -- they understand and respect the value of a good focused sonic pummeling.

If there's another band around these days that is this inspired by pentatonic pyrotechnics applied to rhythmic rapture, let me know.

1.  Violence of the Red Sea
Not content to merely hold the title for Best Rock Album of The Decade Past, the first song here makes it clear that Earthless is as vital and enthusiastic as ever as they embellish a gallery of riffs with unhurried improvisation.  Said riffs pile upon one another similarly to early sections of "Godspeed" but the overall feel is less aggressively blistering and more patiently coaxed melodic magic. 

2.  Uluru Rock
Loose and languid, starts with an emotive guitar jam and then goes for broke with the punk marathon drums and guitar meeting drums' challenge.  Kinda like track 2 on RHYTHMS but somehow more impassioned.  A pulsing synth around the six minute mark is an odd choice but not unwelcome.

3.  Equus October
On an Earthless record, six minutes is an "interlude".  Unbelievably spacey.  It's worth noting that the record's overall production feels larger than previous outings; varying levels of reverb make it sound like the instruments were recorded in a cavern or cathedral or moon crater or what have you.

4.  From the Ages
The screaming guitars that introduce the last track kinda imitate a live crowd cheering, which is a bit of a mindfuck given our familiarity with this song from Earthless' live album.  Is it disappointing that the longest track on here revisits older material?  Maybe a little: the stellar sound quality and delivery that marked LIVE AT ROADBURN made it feel like a definitive version. 

Yet "From The Ages" has undeniably matured.  The various passages are demarcated by more purposeful transitions than in its live counterpart.  A more nuanced performance is evident here, both by virtue of the clarity afforded by the studio production, and due to the overall level of detail in the musicianship.  It's still "From The Ages" and it still doesn't stray far from its central grinding riff, making it for better or worse one of Earthless' more droney outings. 

All qualifications aside, the manner in which the quieter section around the 20 minute mark delicately ushers in a final sprint towards a towering ritardando really feels like the sort of sonic event for which Earthless fans have been yearning in the interrim between records.  Titanic stuff.

[RacerX]

Dude, where the fuck you been?

[CanookieWookie]

Not as good as I had hoped it would be on the first listen. 

[MichaelZodiac]

They open up a few holes in the space time continuum on this record as far as I'm concerned. Brain fryingly good.

[renfield]

Racerx, I just sort of drifted when the old site went down and never picked the thread back up.  Fuck me I miss this shit though.

[MadJohnShaft]

renfeld!

[renfield]

madjohnshaft! 

[RacerX]

Welcome back. Good to see you're still alive & kickin'.

[sleestak]

WillBur.  Keep spinning this.  It rips.

Could be my favorite so far this year.

[kojak]

fuuuuuck

[mutantcolors]

I don't love Earthless for no reason, I love them for a lot of reasons.

[freesizez]

Not as good as I had hoped it would be on the first listen. 

[BrianDamage]

After giving it some time in the stereo I am giving this one a thumbs down due to it's inability to hold my attention for longer than one song.

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