Artist: Earthship
Title: Exit Eden
Type: Album
Label: Pelagic Records

“Damn, that vocalist is angry about something!” What has that first line of this review got to do with anything, you may ask yourself. Well, it was my first impression on popping ‘Exit Eden’, debut album for Earthship into my stereo and cranking up the volume. Album opener ‘Caught in a Storm’ starts out with a crashing blast of deep heavy, complex riffs, reminiscent of Mastodon at their most progressive, before the vocals blast in with a growl, seeming to challenge the crashing waves of the lyrics to a battle for ferocity. This aquatic theme continues in the equally heavy and similarly themed ‘Sea of Peril’, which throws into the mix a nice doom tinged guitar line midway through the track to play off the prog themes. I can only suppose this nautical theme is to be expected from a band with a close connection to The Ocean, Earthship being founded by their former drummer and still close associate Jan Oberg. Even the label’s name, Pelagic, means ‘pertaining to the ocean’ (I knew that O level English grade A would come in use some day!).

Throughout the album, rather then stick to just a single battering assault, the band experiments with their sound, bringing in elements from a host of styles. ‘Fever Pitch’ layers grungy vocal harmonies over the lead’s growling, whilst the guitars adopt a hypnotic, repetitive delivery in the Tool vein. At other points, the influences of other acts can be heard, sometimes doom laden, sometimes hardcore, sometimes incorporating early Seattle grunge, and frequently layered with prog. It is this mixing of sounds and styles that gives Earthship their own distinctive sound, working best as it does on longer tracks, ‘Born With A Blister’ adding a groovy beat to the choruses that enlivens the middle section of the song.

Whilst this eclecticism is at the heart of Earthship’s sound, at times it did get a bit much for me, the music firing in from all directions, and occasionally wandering positively labyrinthine paths, as if the band wanted to demonstrate too many skills at once. However, this was rare, compared to the many times that the band delivered their own brand of complex, cerebral metal. As a debut album, Earthship has announced their presence with a sonic tsunami.

http://www.myspace.com/wearetheearthship
http://www.myspace.com/pelagicrecords