Album Review :
The Earth And Everything In It - The Healer's Hands, The Beggar's Palms
Band: The Earth And Everything In It
Title: The Healer’s Hands, The Beggar’s Palms
Label: N/A
Release Date: 2008
Review By: Scott L
Tracklisting:
01. Ice Caverns
02. Song of Solomon
03. Part Two
04. Cycles
05. Loving Ourselves
06. ALQ
Previously known as Crime Rate in Iowa, The Earth and Everything In It is a 5-piece out of Minot, North Dakota. “The Healer’s Hands, The Beggar’s Palms” is their six song EP that starts out with a long intro that slowly builds momentum before unleashing the aural assault of old school hardcore. Ahhh, sweet nectar of the gods… I think I have blisters on my eardrums.
These guys are more about plodding rhythms rather than lightening speed. Kinda like those campy horror flicks where the girl runs for her life and the psycho nut just keeps walking but somehow manages to keep up with her. The music is nice and heavy and just chugs along in no real rush. Vocals? Yeah, well… I’ll say this, interviews should be conducted prior to any live shows because there’s no way this guy has a voice afterwards. Guitars are heavy with lots of distortion. The bass is nice and sharp and pretty much follows the drums which are tight-skinned with lots of crash. The mix is a little under-tuned, but actually fits the style well… since this style of music needs to be deep and resonant. Which it is.
Speaking of style, I’d put these guys somewhere between Folly and The Chariot. There wasn’t a whole lot of diversity overall. A few of the tracks sounding more like a continuation of the previous track than an altogether new one. But then, this can also be pretty typical for this style of music. And, hey, you’re typical listener isn’t gonna be looking for a bunch of disjointed songs… if they hear one and like it, they’re gonna want more of the same. And that’s what they’ll get here. If you like one, chances are good you’ll like them all.
Lyrically, The Earth and Everything In It offers a wealth of Biblical truth in an unimposing manner. While some of the lyrical content comes directly from scripture, or at least is scripturally based, it really doesn’t come across as overly preachy. More introspective and cerebral. Take the song “Ice Caverns” as an example: “…in this love many times it can make us go mad / but we are not thinking twice about this love / we are taking back our bodies as the temple of the lord / hallelujah / this love keeps no records of wrongs / our sleepers must awake…” Not only is it nice to find bands that aren’t afraid to include blatantly spiritual themes in their songs, but it’s refreshing to find bands that have obviously spent some time in their Bible and are comfortable enough with it to interweave it into the themes of their songs.
Standout track was “Loving Ourselves”. The rapid fire vocals sold me on this one pretty much right away. And the piano intro was a nice change up as well.
Overall: There’s a saying that seems to be getting a lot of mileage these days… and that’s “it is what it is.” That perfectly sums up The Earth and Everything In It’s EP “The Healer’s Hands, The Beggar’s Palms”. And I don’t mean that in any way as a negative statement. What I mean is that it’s not gonna knock you out of your chair and leave you seeing stars, but if you’re into some nice hardcore, it’ll certainly hold your attention.
www.myspace.com/theearthandeverythinginit