Before Dylan Carson surrendered fully to the slow, feedback-drenched, single-note meditations of Earth 2, thus creating the drone metal blueprint that influenced the likes of Boris, Sunn O))) and Khanate, he first busied himself deconstructing heavy metal as a whole. Although this first Earth recording from 1990 has been cannibalised for EPs and bootlegs over the years, it's still startling how contemporary it sounds. Boiling down the tenets of rock music to a primordial ooze of caveman riffs and continental-drift rhythms, Earth created a template that their acolytes are still trying to master two decades later. And while much has been made of the contribution of best friend and fellow Seattleite Kurt Cobain, it's actually one of the least interesting things here. Because, overall, this is nothing less than the sound of an entire music genre shifting on its axis.