Earth Altar / Sun Below - Inter Terra Solis

 

 

Earth Altar / Sun Below - Inter Terra Solis
Black Throne Productions – 2023
Rock, Doom, Stoner, Psych, Space, Prog
Rated: *****

For some weird and funny reason, the promo for this beautiful release did not immediately work and only got fixed, for me personally, after I got notified about an old press release. Somehow it felt good to see that on every side of the Heavy Underground people are working around the clock to make things happen, and that a lot of these cats are overworked, make mistakes, and then do their absolute best to rectify them. Cause that seems to entail to some extent what doing your best for the scene seems to be. Working your furry little ass off and making mistakes here and there. Well, at least it does for me. But I love doing it anyway. But we can unfortunately only do as much as we have the time to do it in. So, we only got to share the lead Sun Below single Methuselah Star for their split album with Earth Altar and never managed to do so for The Descent. I wish we had, but we all make mistakes… We can sort of rectify that now, by mentioning that split album called: Inter Terra Solis. It’s a great year for split and collaborations it seems, cause Inter Terra Solis is pure solid gold! 

 

Earth Altar open the ball with the single we should have mentioned, The Descent, and end up delivering five tracks that tell one big story. A space doom track that sounds as picturesque as it is uplifting, which feels like a paradox because of the song title, but The Descent might not actually take you down, but instead lift you up. Towards The Garden of Earthy Delights, a Hieronymus Bosch painting, and perhaps an ode to sensory pleasures. The music of Earth Altar however seems to be more about letting go. And hints even more in that direction with its final track Transmutation (the Alchemist's Dream). Cause that was the Alchemist’s Dream, not using weird formulas to create gold or to prolong life, but to be able to let everything go, and become one with the Tao. And you can already see that knowledge and feeling approaching when you hear in the Growing Light of Anthelion, a crystallized reflection of a slow-moving psych rocker, that uses its progressive nature to turn you onto the right path. Which is clear the two from Earth Altar are on after hearing this adventure. For the way Jonathan MacIsaac on drums and Spencer Trout with Bass Guitars and a limited amount of Vocals manage to tell their story is a true blessing. Using the synth magic from Katie Wayne on certain moments to lift the compositions even higher turns as much into a journey inward as it does outwards. Earth Altar turns their part of Inter Terra Solis into a Philosopher’s Stone… 

 

Sun Below, follow with three tracks that manages to touchstone all the proggy doom, stoner and proto heaviness you can handle. Although the second track Methuselah Star, the single we did mention, sees the doom rise to cosmic levels and turn into an ever-expansive universe of heaviness. Sludgy when needed it merges everything you love from Sabbath with that of Sleep. And with that soaring touch, its serves as the perfect middle ground for the two other tracks. Instrumental Red Giant starts the game with an immediate and frontal guitar, slicing through the atmosphere like a meat cleaver. Turning the cosmic sized doom nod into an earthy rocker, that sounds as proto as it sound proggy and did we mention earthy. Very earthy, with as many grains of sand between the strings and notes as possible. And that swaying groove, in the end slowing down, like a beautiful wave goodbye from gigantic plants. Ending track Gravity Tide takes the doom up a notch and the turns the nod to an even deeper level. Vocals echoing from behind the waves, turning it all into an even more mesmerizing experience. And even though the groove is immense, the grinding colossal and you end up going all in, and your sense of being seems to shimmer in and out of existence, there is always that lingering feeling of something unpredictable waiting just around the corner. Which makes for an interesting balancing act and wonderful dance high above the earth on a tightrope…

Together, the two sides, turn this into a forty-minute adventure that you can keep experiencing for the rest of time. For even though the music is in place, you will be out of it in no time and undergoing all sorts of weird escapades somewhere between the sun and the earth…

(Written by JK)

EARTH ALTAR Online:

Bancamp

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SUN BELOW Online:

Bandcamp

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Black Throne Productions