Drone Doom and the Record Called Earth 2

Some albums change metal by playing faster. Earth's Earth 2 did it by playing almost nothing at all, for more than an hour. If you want to understand drone doom, this is the record people keep pointing to.

Where Earth came from

Earth started in 1989 in Olympia, Washington, founded by guitarist Dylan Carlson, who began the band with Slim Moon and Greg Babior. The name is a nod to the earlier name of Black Sabbath, the band that gave doom its template. A Boiler Room profile says Carlson grew up obsessed with the sludge-rock band the Melvins, and that he was also studying minimalist composers such as La Monte Young.

The record

Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version came out on Sub Pop on February 5, 1993. It was recorded in August 1992 at Avast! Recording Company in Seattle. It has three songs, and they are long: about 15 minutes, 27 minutes and 30 minutes, for a total of just over 73 minutes.

The sound is built from heavy distortion, feedback and delay, repeating the same low riffs. There is hardly any drumming. Cymbal crashes show up only on the last track. Writers have compared the guitar to Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, only played far, far slower. Carlson has said Slayer and King Crimson were influences on it.

One practical detail: the tape the band used could hold only about half an hour per take, so the long tracks were spliced and faded together.

Why it matters

Critics have been strong on this one. AllMusic's John Bush wrote that it "virtually created" drone and ambient metal. Terrorizer's Dayal Patterson called it a milestone. Carlson himself later said it sounds claustrophobic to him and that he would record it differently today. That is worth remembering: even the people who make a landmark do not always love it.

From there the family tree grows. Stephen O'Malley's group Burning Witch continued this sound in Seattle, and his later group Sunn O))) began as a tribute to Earth. In Japan, Boris and Corrupted developed a drone metal sound in parallel with the Seattle groups. Khanate, in New York, was one of the drone metal groups that formed in the 2000s. Earth kept going too, with albums including Hex (2005), The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (2008) and Full upon Her Burning Lips (2019).

How to listen

Start with the first track, "Seven Angels," and give it the full 15 minutes. Do not wait for a chorus. The point is to let the riff wear a groove in the room.

If you like it, our doom history post is the next stop, and from there Michigan has its own slow-and-heavy bands in Petoskey, Detroit and Grand Rapids.

Official sites

• Earth: earthseattle.com (listed as the official site on Wikipedia)
• Earth on their label: Southern Lord
• Sub Pop (original label): subpop.com

Sources and credits

Facts about the band, album and its reception come from the Wikipedia articles on Earth and Earth 2, accessed 2026-10-18. Wikipedia is a lead, not a final source. The Melvins and La Monte Young line, and the line that Sunn O))) began as a tribute to Earth, come from Louis Pattison, "Heavy, Heavier, Heaviest: A Beginner's Guide To Doom-Drone," Boiler Room, February 17, 2015, read 2026-10-29. The Burning Witch, Boris, Corrupted and Khanate lines come from the Wikipedia article on drone metal, read 2026-10-29. No images are used in this draft. No audio or video is hosted; listening links go only to the artist's and label's own pages.