Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 (2011)

Since their 2005 return with “HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method”, Earth has been morphing into a shapeless entity that transfers emotions through magical musical compositions. With “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull” the band dabbled into some Jazzy realms with some hints of Americana and psychedelic elements. But with “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1”, the band pushes the envelope once more with a darker side to things then in their previous releases.

“Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1” is an album that features 5 tracks of sheer brilliance, the mood, the space, the tones, everything sounds just right and creates a very dark and depressive atmosphere. With the use of the cello, the band further elevates their sonic exploration into very dark territories that will fill you up with emotions and free you from your everyday worries, allowing you to fully experience the 60 minutes of music the band has laid down on this release.

The album kicks off with “Old Black”, a very powerful piece that greatly sets the mood for the rest of the songs. In this song the cello is very dominant and gives that extra hint of melancholy to the track. The overall sound of the album will remind you of some older Psychedelic rock bands combined with jazzy and folk elements, providing a truly unique experience.

“Father Midnight” clocks in at 12 minutes and brings you a very peaceful imagery that feels very bleak. The guitars are excellent and the older sounds they feature greatly give the song a very retro feeling. The drums are very simplistic and greatly complement the music, never pushing forward and always keeping their distance from the rest of the elements. “Descent to the Zenith” has a slower pace, allowing the listener to re-group and enjoy more cello passages that will give you shivers for days.

By the time you hit “Hells’ Winter”, half the album has passed by and you wouldn’t even guess that 30 minutes have flown by. In this song we get some of the western feeling that “Hex” had, but with the newer influences of the “Bees”. One keeps waiting for this piece to explode, thanks to the buildup parts, but it quietly comes back and forth creating a great tension between the listener and the music.

The album title track clocks in the 20 minute range and being very minimalistic in nature, it never gets dull or anything. In this song the listener will surely fall into an hypnotic trace, and will long in nature, you will never realized how much time passed before its over. This song provides a very solid closing to a very elaborate and multi-textured release.

In general, we completely loved this album from start till end. The whole album feels like one continuous song that transports you away from space and time and traps you in a limbo. Dylan and company have managed to create another brilliant release by keeping some of their ‘traditional’ style and enhancing it with the latest additions to the band. Since it’s a part one, we can’t wait to get our hands on part 2, but in the meanwhile we have to recommend you to run and get this release as soon as you can.

Release: February 22nd, 2011

Country: USA