Elevator to Hell
Eerieconsiliation
Sub Pop

Elevator to hell is perhaps the closest fragment of Eric's trip to its origin, it remains closest to the hearts of Eric's trip fans because it retains front-man, Rick White and drummer Mark Gaudet. This, the first full-length release in about a year begins with the sounds of birds chirping, and leads into Tara's repetitive but awesomely powerful bass parts. Elevator to Hell's music is trippy, heavy and dark, but incredibly lovely ear candy. Rick White - as per usual - uses guitar and keyboards, as well as echoed vocals for a unique and soothing affect. The songs tend to be alternately loud and quiet. Both are more than worth their salt, but I prefer the quieter tracks because Tara's bass, Rick's guitar, and Mark's drums are more balanced on these tracks, which adds to a sense of magic on the album. But the heavy songs are what keeps you awake and listening closely.

In comparison to Parts 1-3 I'd say that this album is a lot less like Eric's Trip, it's heavy, dark and has a lot of bass, but it follows the same strain that Parts 1-3 had in it, moving more towards part 3.

There is a different version of Backteeth that is a bit more subdued than the Backwards May 7" version, but very effective dynamically. Elevator to Hell uses a lot of chromatics in the louder tracks on this album. One of my favorite tracks would be Inevitably, a pondering, but energetic song about the end of the world - "So should I fill myself with stress, or should I ignore everything, I see? Live in dreams and make things good, cause inevitably only bad will be". Other noteworthy tracks are To Breath and Hurricane. I feel that this album weakens towards the end. It becomes increasingly dreamy and the songs less structured or interesting. But that just makes it nicer to doze off to. This album is a must for any Elevator to Hell fan, and if you're still mourning over Eric's Trip, maybe it's time to get a life.

Copyright © 1997 Laura Bowman