Earth - Pentastar: In the Style of Demons LP

Dylan Carlson may best be remembered as Kurt Cobain's friend, probably not the way he would like to be seen in music history. But besides having that going for him, he was also the brains behind Earth, a Seattle combo that tried to recreate Black Sabbath, but much slower. Earth's early albums showed a lot of promise, but never quite delivered the epic sound that was hinted at. On Pentastar, Carlson tries to find the middle ground between the space rock of Hawkwind and the noisy guitar work of the Melvins. Unfortunately, he forgot to write any songs, instead letting the noise speak for itself. As an ambient noise project, the album actually works. It makes great background music, but very rarely does the music stand out. Songs blur together, and only on the Jimi Hendrix cover "Peace in Mississippi" does Earth sound like a rock band. The Sabbath influence rears its head on the noisy "Tallahassee," but it seems like too little, too late -- since the long instrumentals may keep people from actually reaching that song. If Carlson really wanted to make his mark, he should have just tried to rock instead of hinting at it. As it stands, open-minded fans of doom metal may want to check this out, but few others will be interested in what is going on here. -All Music Guide