Review: Black Earth

Black Earth

Bohren & Der Club of Gore

Review: This year has been an exploration in what music means to me. For much of my life music has been but an avenue for me to sing or otherwise enhance the experience of other activities. This means that most everything I've listened to this year, the highly conceptual, often times narratively driven music has been almost a waking up of sorts. My values in music have changed so much from the beginning of the year to now, and yet when I listen to Bohren & Der Club of Gore's  I'm brought back to understanding just how good music to enhance experiences really can be.

         "Black Earth" is the fourth studio album by the band Bohren & Der Club of Gore and after listening to their other post saxophone stuff I can definitely say it is my favorite by them of this type - see for a long time the individual members of BDCG were in hardcore bands named "7 Inch Boots" and "Chronical Diarrhoea". This explains the similarly edgy name, and dark, brooding themes in much of their music. It wasn't until they lost their guitarist and replaced him with a Saxophone player however, that they hit their stride releasing both of their most critically acclaimed albums, "Midnight Radio" and of course, "Black Earth". The change in sound is very obvious if you listen to the two albums next to each other, one sounds like it belongs in a cheesy 90s thriller, the other is what I and many others like to call "Dark Jazz" and I like to call it this because it fits the mood and aesthetic of BDCG's post saxophone stuff so well. Let's go into "Black Earth" a bit more though since it is the album I am reviewing in particular.

         I say that this is a "Dark Jazz" album and to describe what that means I need to start with the atmosphere of "Black Earth". The album opens with one instrument, a modified piano playing an eerie, dark spiritual haunting melody. Slowly instruments are introduced, snare drum, then dull synth. It's not until around three minutes into the album that, after all of the slow atmospheric build-up, you get the most magical payoff. The sax hums out tantalizing your tiny little ears filling them with absolute pleasure. This is what I mean when I say "Dark Jazz". It's brooding, ghostly, otherworldly, with many of the classic themes of jazz, but much slower and darker. This album in particular creates a mood akin to a dark hole in the wall pub in a murder mystery film. It's eerie, creepy, but at the same time warm, and safe. One piece of recluse from the madness and horror to follow, a safe haven. I'm going to go into my favorite tracks now, but just know that it is incredibly difficult to pick them as most of the songs do bleed into one another.

Favorite Tracks: 

Midnight Black Earth: The intro track to the whole album, and might I say one of the most solid intro tracks of any of the albums I've listened to this year. It absolutely deserves a shout out for so perfectly introducing this gorgeous album. For me, the most important thing in an intro track is preparing the listener for what's to come, and very few tracks do that as well as this one. The very first time the Saxophone comes in, as I touched on earlier, is just indescribable.

Destroying Angels: This song is probably the one in the album that sticks out to me the most. It reminds me a lot of a song from an "Atlus Games" soundtrack, namely "Catherine" and if you remember anything from my review of that game earlier in the year, its that the game created an amazing atmosphere.

Skeletal Remains: This song is a bit more involved than some of the other tracks on the album with a strong piano melody, but I think that's why I like it so much. It's also the song I feel evokes the murder mystery vibe the hardest, and I think that's a pretty fuckin' awesome theme to evoke.

Recommendation: I think if you've read the above all the way through you will 100% know if this is an album you should listen to. In case you skipped here though, let me reference back to my review of "The Creature's in Lady Walton's Garden" a bit. This isn't an album you need to listen to actively, it's one you put on in the background to evoke certain moods - brooding, creepy, but at the same time warming. During a DnD session, while studying, while reading a murder mystery novel, these are the times I would put this album on. If you like Jazz, and wouldn't mind something a bit slower, darker, and atmospheric, put this album on during any of the aforementioned settings. If that's not your style, give it a pass. I thought this album was fuckin killer, I really hope you do too.

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And that's my review of "Black Earth"! Almost all of my music reviews so far have been 5s, music is insane! At the same time I think a few of the albums I listened to this year are capable of 6s come the years end, while this one probably is not. It is awesome though, and I hope you give it a listen. Up next is my review of "Oldboy", until then!
- Malachi