Live Review: Earth, Dreamtime, A Savage God - Crowbar

With a super-intimate Dylan Carlson solo show at Tym Guitars the night earlier to get everybody pumped up, the crowd seems extra-eager to file down the stairs into Crowbar tonight to witness drone legends Earth.

A Savage God kick things off with a nod to the legacy of Earth's earlier years, where grit remained a concern alongside beauty. The local crew jam out on some heavy and meditative tunes before psych rockers Dreamtime take to the stage and channel the ghosts of all of the members of The Doors who are now dead. Their show has remained one of the most exciting on Brisbane's underground scene for some time now and tonight everything is suitably dreamy, putting everybody into the properly chilled out headspace for the main event.

Seeing Earth's main man take to the stage at Crowbar is a jarring sight. His poor posture, diminutive frame and an almost totally grey mutton chop beard creates an arresting visual. A legend who has lurked upon the fringes of alternative culture since the late '80s, it feels like Carlson's gravitas has the room entranced before Earth have even played one exquisitely long note.
When Carlson does lead his drone crew into the set, every chord he hits sounds like a lullaby – lush and enchanting. The band hold the crowd to silent, motionless, attention. When they work some of their stuff from their forthcoming record, the dream-like quality of the songs lulls the room into a state of wonderful contentment.

This seems to be what Earth are hoping to do tonight: show off their new material. Or at least provide an indication of what the new record could sound like – it's been touted that the album will feature vocals, and tonight it's strictly instrumental fare. Hearing these tunes without any notions of how they should sound or how the band should experiment with the source material is an interesting experience. It's challenging at times – when you see a band you want to hear the songs you know – but it's also rewarding. The stories Carlson manages to tell with his guitar are engrossing, and devoting the attention required to follow along with him yields moments of intense pleasure.

As Carlson's guitar drifts throughout the room, his band provide tremendous accompaniment for the stripped down interpretations of the material taken from the first Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light record. Even when the band step on their distortion pedals and venture into pre-Hex material, the songs still have an ethereal sheen to them. Ouroboros Is Broken, which lives on record as a caustic 18-minute noise bomb, comes across tonight as a tastefully condensed, tonally controlled number that imparts a sense of warmth and peace to the hooked crowd. It's pretty cool.