The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull

The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
A lion's skull in profile. There is honeycomb in its eye socket and bees swarm around it.
Studio album by
Earth
ReleasedFebruary 26, 2008 (2008-02-26)
RecordedAvast/Aleph Studios
GenreRock[1]
Length53:25
LabelSouthern Lord (SUNN90)
ProducerRandall Dunn
Earth chronology
Hibernaculum
(2007) 		The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
(2008) 		Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The A.V. ClubA[2]
BBC(favorable)[3]
The Guardian[4]
Pitchfork Media7.7/10[5]
PopMatters[6]
The Quietus9/10[7]
Tiny Mix Tapes[8]

The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull is the fifth full-length studio album by the American musical group Earth.

The 2008 album continues bandleader Dylan Carlson's creative evolution away from the experimental drone-grunge-metal output of their earlier work. The music on Bees still features the band's trademark slower tempos and gradually developed melodic themes, but has influence from jazz, country and western, and film music. Unlike previous material, Hammond organ and acoustic piano is prominently featured on this album.[1]

Earth embarked on a worldwide tour in support of the album.[9]

Bill Frisell is a guest on the album, playing guitar on tracks one, four, and five.

The title is a reference to Judges 14:8 in the Bible. It tells the story of Samson, who tore apart a lion and when he returned, noticed a swarm of bees and some honey on the lion's carcass. The album continues the partial trend of Earth material being influenced by Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, with certain songs named after phrases from the book (for example, "Hung from the Moon" and "Engine of Ruin").[10][11]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Omens and Portents I: The Driver"9:06
2."Rise to Glory"5:47
3."Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)"8:01
4."Engine of Ruin"6:28
5."Omens and Portents II: Carrion Crow"8:04
6."Hung from the Moon"7:44
7."The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull"8:15
8."Junkyard Priest" (Vinyl bonus track)7:13

Personnel

Per the liner notes[12]

Earth
Guest musicians
  • Bill Frisell – electric guitar on tracks 1, 4, and 5
  • Milky Burgess - slide guitar on "Junkyard Priest"
Production
  • Randall Dunn - basic tracks recorded at Avast, all other recording and mixing at Aleph Studios
  • Sinister Kitchen - mastering
  • Mell Detmer - mastering
  • Arik Roper - artwork
  • Seldon Hunt - layout

References

  1. ^ a b c Jurek, Thom. The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  2. ^ "Earth: The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull". The A.V. Club. 4 March 2008.
  3. ^ Pattison, Louis. "BBC - Music - Review of Earth - Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull". www.bbc.co.uk.
  4. ^ Thomson, Jamie (February 22, 2008). "CD: Earth, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull". the Guardian.
  5. ^ Baron, Zach. The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull review pitchforkmedia.com. 2008-02-29. Retrieved on 2011-08-30.
  6. ^ Blackie, Andrew (February 25, 2008). "Earth: The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull, PopMatters".
  7. ^ "Album Review: Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
  8. ^ The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull review Archived 2009-02-20 at the Wayback Machine tinymixtapes.com. Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  9. ^ "LivingForMetal.com - EARTH - The Bee Made Honey in the Lion's Skull coming February 2008". December 20, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-12-20.
  10. ^ Ambler, Charlie (25 September 2014). "Talking to Earth About the Occult and Playing in a Doom Band When You're Happy". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  11. ^ "INTERVIEW: DYLAN CARLSON (EARTH)". burningambulance.com. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  12. ^ Hunt, Seldon; Arik Roper (2008). The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (CD booklet in CD front cover). Earth. Southern Lord Records. pp. 1–10. sunn90.