Every time an Earth album is released I maintain that it is a contender for being their best work. This is no exception. Taking their country sound even further south, this album sees the music take on a vibrant and colorful life of its own, a step away from the monochrome bleakness of Hex. Like the Biblical reference of the album's title, the imposing muscle of Earth's music has brought forth sweetness.
While the major hallmarks of Earth are all present (the drone, the unusual time signatures and the most gorgeous guitar tone this side of heaven), yet again there is a huge shift in aesthetic. Granted it is easy to see how Earth arrived at this sound compared to the leap between previous Earth albums and Hex. The sparse desert beauty of Hex and the more organic sounding Hibernaculm EP both hinted at this full, luscious approach to Dylan Carlson's musical vision. In interviews, Carlson has hinted that this would be Earth's gospel album and indeed there is a strong spiritual and southern American vibe to The Bees Made Honey… Although this is a spirituality that goes beyond praising the Lord and fully embraces the world beyond our own, a theme that has long been explored in Dylan's work.
The mood of this album is the inverse of the desperation pervading Hex. Instead of the Cormac McCarthy-esque sense of doom there is a hopeful air to the album. A bright new dawn is evident from the opening moments of the disc. The shuddering, stop-start rhythm of "Rise to Glory" captures an almost ecstatic glee; the joy of a new day after the cold night of Hex. This is followed with a wonderful reprise of "Miami Morning Coming Down" from Hibernaculum, very different to the original but oddly still instantly recognisable.
When I saw Earth previewing parts of The Bee Made Honey… live before Christmas, the stand out piece of the night was the title track of the album. "Just try to relax" was Carlson's instructions and no better direction can be given. Here the song is not quite as potent as the volume just simply cannot be replicated at home but the meditative tones of the piece still massage my brain into a place devoid of stress and worry. The liner notes to Earth2 may have been somewhat tongue-in-cheek with quotes from people whose tension headaches disappeared while listening to that album but I have found that Earth's music consistently helpful in de-stressing.
The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull is a superb record. It is by far and away the most easy listening album under the Earth name. Their music may have become more palatable and mainstream over the years but the intensity has never waned. Like their previous album, this will most likely attract a lot of people who have never heard of them before and this is no bad thing. They have long existed at the margins of the metal and grunge scenes and deserve to be more widely acknowledged than they currently are.
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