Metal music can be voiceless

Earth was formed in Seattle during the late ‘80s and on May 27th, the band released their most recent album titled Full Upon Her Burning Lips. The album makes it’s debut two years after the release of their last album Live at Third Man Records.  

The band members on Full Upon Her Burning Lips are guitarist and founder of the band Dylan Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies. The new album displays a unique and artistic view of what metal music is. The album does not contain loud vocals because it is an instrumental album and each song is filled with bittersweet music. Also, it seems there is another music genre in some of the songs as there are some blues elements on the album.

On this record, Carlson ’s guitar skills are dynamic because he shows how he is still capable of playing loud and electrifying metal guitar. Also, he has been able to craft his guitar by incorporating blues music with the cutting edge sound of the guitar. The drums also provide an element of blues tempo to accompany the music, as throughout the album Davies can be heard playing the drums in high and low tempos. She is able to create a light beat on the drums by tapping the drum heads gently, which clashes with her hitting the cymbals and creating an upper beat on her drum heads to match Carlson’s guitar. The bass guitar (played on this album by Carlson) is unique because, in some of the songs, vibration from the strings can be heard playing the same tune. However, there are some songs on the album where the bass guitar cannot be heard but if listened closely,  a small rumble can be heard in the background.

The songs on this album stand out due to the instrumentation and there is a particular song which displays how unique the music is. This song is called “The Colour of Poison” and it is extraordinary because of how the guitars and drums blend together to create a perfect tune. At the beginning of the song, Carlson guitar provide the sense of electric emotion and that is the sound metal fans want to hear. If this song was to be performed live, listeners pulses would be higher than normal because they can feel the energy by both guitarists.  Also, the drums are played nicely because Davies does a good job of not drumming too hard while using the cymbals to help blend in with the tone of the music. This song shows how Carlson is a guitar professional and he is not afraid to show people what he can do musically.

Another song which stands out on the album is “A Wrenched Country of Dusk” and what makes this song stand out is how dark it sounds. Carlson’s guitar can be heard blaring at the beginning of the song and the electrifying sounds coming from the guitars provides a sense of sadness and despair. Davies’ drumming blends in well because she is able to drum to a slower beat while the guitarists are playing and the drumbeat does provide the sense of multiple emotions during the song. Also, what is unique about this song is how the band incorporates blues music with metal sounds. Blues music does contain strong emotions and this song shows strong emotions by how the band performs the song. This song was beautifully played by the instruments and the band did a great job providing the mixture of blues into metal music.

Also, the song “An Unnatural Carousel” is another great track off the album because of the bittersweet guitar riffs. Carlson’s guitar solo is righteous because it provides a sense of serenity within the hardcore music. The bass guitar rumbles with passion and joy and Davies’ drumming creates a beautiful slow tempo by how she is gently hitting the drum heads. In some ways the song brings peacefulness because of the style of music being performed does have a slow rhythm and the only fast rhythm comes from Carlson’s guitar playing.  This song is a beautiful metal serenade and the band did an outstanding job performing it. It will be interesting to hear the thoughts about this song from metal fans.

This album is by far one of the best albums from the band because it shows how metal can be a unique style of music. Fans and non-fans of the genre will appreciate this album because of how well the music represents itself. And, if they enjoy the album, they should go see  Earth on tour because it could give them a new perspective on the genre.