Seattle-based Earth, seen by many as godfathers of so-called drone/ambient metal genre, were formed in the early 90s by Dylan Carlson, along with Slim Moon and Greg Babior. They took name from an original name for Black Sabbath.

Moon and Babior were eventually replaced with Dave Harwell and Joe Preston and the band recorded then-unnamed album in Portland, Oregon. After seeing band live, Sub Pop released the album as “Extra-Capsular Extraction”, which featured vocals by Kurt Cobain, close friend of Dylan Carlson, as well as additional vocals by Kelly Canary from the band Dickless.

After Joe Preston joined Melvins, Dylan and Dave recorded “Earth 2” as a duo and released it in late 1992, after which Dave left the band, as well. “Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions” featured Tommy Hansen and Ian Dickson – recording of the album began in 1993, the album itself was finished in ’94 and finally came out on Sub Pop in 1995. In early 96, two new members joined the band – Shawn McElligot and Mike McDaniels.

1996 “Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons” was recorded at Studio 45 in Hartford, Connecticut and came out on Sub Pop in July of that year. “Pentastar”, which is considered the group’s most traditional-sounding release,  became last album that they recorded in the 90s and the band temporarily broke up/went on hiatus after its release.

During their long period of inactivity, No Quarter label released “Sunn Amps And Smashed Guitars Live”,  a collection of older demos and live recording, which originally came out on Blast First in 1995. No Quarter edition contained a number of tracks which were absent on Blast First version.

In 2002, Earth was resurrected and as a duo of Adrienne Davis (drums) and Dylan Carlson (guitar) they toured the east coast in September of that year. In 2003, they headlined a Southern Lord showcase at SXSW festival in Austin, TX and toured with KK Null in Europe. In 2005, No Quarter and and Southern Lord released “Legacy of Dissolution”, an album of remixes of Earth songs done by the likes of Mogwai, Jim O’Rourke and Autechre.

Their first studio album in 9 years was 2005 “Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method” which came out on Southern Lord and led to a whole number of new studio records – 2007 “Hibernaculum” and 2008 “The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull”, as well as a slew of reissues of their older albums on Sub Pop.