Earth's 1996 full length Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons was the last they did for Sub Pop, and was the final studio album from the band before they were resurrected via the Southern Lord/Sunn O))) contingent. It was also their most maligned album, written off as Dylan Carlson's attempt at a more accessible, alt-rock direction for the project in the wake of the beatless drone-Metal heaviosity of Earth's previous albums. And this definitely is an evolution in the band's sound, with a full band backing up Carlson's heavy riffage, and the addition of vocals and a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Peace In Mississippi". But when absorbed as a single block of sound, Pentastar is also one of Earth's most otherworldly albums, still possessed by the almighty DRONE; just witness the way that the narcoleptic hypno-blues of "High Command" flows seamlessly into the almost Tangerine Dream like drone majesty of "Crooked Axis For String Quartet". Or the sudden Sabbathian riff-trance of "Tallahassee" merging into "Charioteer (Temple Song)" and it's repetitious, haunting raga/folk drone. Even the Hendrix cover is imbued with Earth's mastery of the hypnotic, repetitive riff, turning it into a lumbering slab of fried trance rock, before giving way to the lengthy minimalist piano composition "Sonar And Depth Charge", and finally closing out on "Coda Maestoso In F (flat) Minor", the massive instrumental riff from the album's opening track laced with Hammond-sounding organs and a killer Metal solo. Even though I always did like this album, which I thought was a precursor to the heavy, hypnotic, trancey rock outfits like Pharoah Overlord and Los Natas that would appear several years later, Pentastar does make more sense now when viewed as the lead-up to Earth's awesome Hex album. An underrated classic. This vinyl re-issue comes in a full color jacket with B&W insert sheet.