Sunn O))) | ||
| Allmusic Biography : The influential, self-described "power ambient" duo Sunn 0))) (pronounced "Sun") is comprised of guitarists Stephen OMalley (Khanate, Burning Witch) and Greg Anderson (Goatsnake, Thorrs Hammer). Their drone-heavy blend of black metal, dark ambient, and slow burning, low-tuned noise, is known among fans and critics as "minimal maximalism." They have influenced an entire generation of post-metal bands ranging from Pelican and Locrian to Boris and Mono. Their robed and hooded stage mystique is a brooding, stark accompaniment to the multiple smoke machines and ear-splitting volume at gigs. While early releases such as the Grimm Robe Demos and 00 Void showcased their spine-altering drones to punters as early as 2000, it wouldnt be until 2004s Black One with guest vocalist Attila Csihar that they broke worldwide. Since that time, the band have recorded sporadically with both men involved in many other projects -- including the Southern Lord label. Sunn 0))) are also noted collaborators with other acts. They co-released Altar with Boris in 2006, Terrestrials with Ulver in 2014 and Soused with Scott Walker the same year. In 2019, they issued Life Metal, their first album recorded directly to analog with engineer Steve Albini. Sunn 0))) was inspired by the early works of the Melvins and Earth, the latter inspired some of the groups song titles -- Sunn 0))) began as an Earth tribute band in Los Angeles and originally played music under the related name of Mars. Sunn 0)))s basic approach (droning guitars, feedback, distorted bass, and other sound effects) was laid down on their first two releases, The Grimmrobe Demos (recorded in 1998 but not released until 2000) and 00 Void (recorded and released in 2000), both of which were the first two releases on the Hydra Head Records subsidiary Double H Noise Industries. In 1998, OMalley and Anderson founded the experimental doom metal label Southern Lord, which would go on to release albums by Sunn 0))), Earth, Goatsnake, and Khanate, as well as offerings from up-and-coming black metal acts like Wolves in the Throne Room and Striborg. Sunn 0)))s third album (and first for Southern Lord), Flight of the Behemoth, arrived in 2002 and found the group incorporating a bit of percussion (and even a smattering of vocals) into the mix, a creative path they continued to take on 2003s White1 and 2004s White2. Black One arrived one year later, sporting a sound that recalled the bands early work shot through with a heavy dose of electronics, while 2006s Altar found the duo collaborating with Japanese doom outfit Boris. The live double album Dømkirke followed in 2008, and the expansive Monoliths and Dimensions (which featured, among other things, a Viennese womans choir and French horns) appeared in 2009. In 2011, the limited-edition Agharti Live 09-10 was issued, followed by The Iron Soul of Nothing in collaboration with Nurse with Wound. In 2014, the band again participated in a collaborative effort, this time with Norwegian group Ulver on the album Terrestrials, which appeared in February. In addition, they recorded a full-length with Scott Walker, Soused, which was released in October. Sunn 0))) announced the release of the full-length album Kannon, a three-part single conceptual work named for the Buddhist deity of mercy, a bodhisattva "who perceives and hears the cries of the world." Co-produced by the band with Randall Dunn, it features contributions from a number of longtime friends and collaborators including Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, and Steve Moore. It also features a liner essay about the spiritual and cultural concepts surrounding its subject by critical theorist Aliza Shvartz. The album was marked for release on Southern Lord in early December 2015. OMalley and Anderson toured behind the album, then took time for individual pursuits. In late 2018, they entered a studio with engineer Steve Albini and a host of guests who included Hildur Guðnadóttir of Icelands Múm, composer/organist Anthony Pateras, and Silkworm co-founder Tim Midyett providing support on bass and baritone guitar. Recording direct to analog tape for the first time, they cut Life Metal, which was released in April of 2019, and a parallel "more meditative" offering titled Pyroclasts, set for release in the fall. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 50 Title: The Grimmrobe Demos Released: 2000 Tracks: 6 Duration: 1:32:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Black Wedding (17:03) 2 Defeating: Earths Gravity (14:59) 1 Dylan Carlson (18:25) 2 Bremerton (16:31) 1 Anti (12:44) 2 Gabah (13:17) |
 | Album: 2 of 50 Title: ØØ Void Released: 2000-06-05 Tracks: 4 Duration: 58:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Richard (14:32) 2 NN O))) (15:15) 3 Rabbits’ Revenge (14:01) 4 Ra at Dusk (14:43) |
 | Album: 3 of 50 Title: 3:Flight of the Behemoth Released: 2002-01-22 Tracks: 6 Duration: 51:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Mocking Solemnity (09:12) 2 Death Becomes You (13:09) 3 O))) Bow 1 (05:54) 4 O))) Bow 2 (12:53) 1 F.W.T.B.T. (10:19) 2 Grimm & Bear It (?) |
 | Album: 4 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2002.08.09, Blackbird, Portland, OR, USA Released: 2002-08-09 Tracks: 1 Duration: 32:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 Blackbird 2002 - Ugly Version (32:50) |
 | Album: 5 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2003.03.14, Room 710, Austin, TX, USA Released: 2003-03-14 Tracks: 1 Duration: 46:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (46:43) |
 | Album: 6 of 50 Title: White1 Released: 2003-04 Tracks: 5 Duration: 2:03:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 My Wall (25:16) 2 The Gates of Ballard (15:32) 3 A Shaving of the Horn That Speared You (17:52) 1 The Libations of Samhain (48:59) 2 SUNN O))) vs Diggers (16:05) |
| White1 : Allmusic album Review : Doom metal isnt a huge market; you wont find an abundance of doom metallers headlining Madison Square Garden or bragging about their ability to sell more CDs than Madonna, Janet Jackson, or Pearl Jam. But it does have a small cult following, and those who are seriously into doom metal can be very passionate about it. One of the more ambitious and musical bands in the doom field is Sunn0))), whose White1 favors the sort of complexity and intricacy one expects from progressive rock. Sunn0))) has the usual doom metal elements, including dark lyrics, sludgy guitars, gloominess, and Black Sabbath-minded riffs that are incredibly slow -- no one will ever mistake Sunn0))) for a grindcore, thrash, or death metal combo. But White1 is hardly the work of your average Saint Vitus or Grief wannabes. This CD contains three extended pieces, all of which are quite involved and offer a variety of twists and turns; the overall result could almost be described as Saint Vitus by way of Pink Floyds darker material. Sabbath minded-riffing is only part of what Sunn0))) does on White1; there are many moments when the band favors an eerie drone and becomes downright meditative (in a dark, sorrowful way). Most of the time, White1 is more reflective than heavy; in fact, some doom metal purists may argue that this release isnt really doom metal -- that the material isnt as consistently forceful as a doom album needs to be. But even though White1 isnt the work of doom metal purists, Sunn0))) doesnt abandon their Saint Vitus/Grief/Sabbath heritage. The thing is that instead of simply emulating doom metals leaders, Sunn0))) prefers to do something expansive -- and thats certainly admirable. White1 can be overly self-indulgent at times, but overall, the CD hits its mark. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2003.04.02, Lintfabriek, Kontich, BE Released: 2003-04-02 Tracks: 1 Duration: 38:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (38:47) |
 | Album: 8 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2003.08.29, Berbatis Pan, Portland, OR, USA Released: 2003-08-29 Tracks: 1 Duration: 39:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (39:28) |
 | Album: 9 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2003.09.26, Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL, USA Released: 2003-09-26 Tracks: 1 Duration: 43:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (43:07) |
 | Album: 10 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2003.09.27, Cactus Club, Milwaukee, WI, USA Released: 2003-09-27 Tracks: 1 Duration: 40:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (40:50) |
 | Album: 11 of 50 Title: The Libations of Samhain Released: 2004 Tracks: 2 Duration: 1:05:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 The Libations of Samhain (48:59) 2 SUNN O))) vs Diggers (16:05) |
| The Libations of Samhain : Allmusic album Review : Sunn 0)))s music has been described as "power ambient" or "ambient metal," and while both are apt, they cant fully contain the visceral feeling that the music evokes at loud volume. Indeed, White1s sleeve notes contain the axiom "Maximum volume yields maximum results." And while there might be a few enthusiasts with the stereo system to fully exploit this, the only real chance to experience this music as it is intended is in a live setting, hearing the band with the entire body, not just the ears. Does the live Sunn 0))) experience translate to album? On the sister release Live White, it does. That recording has no distortion and is well-mixed. Libations of Samhain, however, suffers from a lack of fidelity, sounding better than the average bootleg, but not professional grade. And thats a shame, because the performance is exceptional, evoking a massive, churning beast, like the Toxic Avenger amped up on both Dilaudid and Jagermeister, lumbering through the LaBrea Tar Pits. Sunn 0))) regulars Greg Anderson and Stephen OMalley are joined here by Jessamines Rex Ritter on "ProtoHarmonics," Dawn Smithson on "Ampeg" (bass guitar), and Mayhems Attila Csihar on vocals. Ritter and Smithsons contributions are almost lost in the sludgy six-string riffing of OMalley and Anderson, but Csihars "vokills" add a layer of atmospheric menace to the gestalt, with his alternately wailing and growling whispers. Although it is one long, 40-minute track, Libations of Samhain seems to contain a number of themes that have appeared on other album tracks, making this a live "best-of," in a way. As such, it is a decent introduction to the band, but suffers in comparison to Live White and the studio albums because of its sub-par fidelity. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.01.01, The Loft, Brattleboro, VT, USA Released: 2004-01-01 Tracks: 1 Duration: 52:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (52:44) |
 | Album: 13 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.01.02, Tonic, New York City, NY, USA Released: 2004-01-02 Tracks: 1 Duration: 58:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (58:08) |
 | Album: 14 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.01.03, Khyber Pass, Philadelphia, PA, USA Released: 2004-01-03 Tracks: 1 Duration: 47:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (47:36) |
 | Album: 15 of 50 Title: White2 Released: 2004-06-19 Tracks: 4 Duration: 1:20:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Hell-O)))-Ween (14:11) 2 bassAliens (23:22) 1 Decay2 [Nihils Maw] (25:19) 2 Decay (The Symptoms of Kali Yuga) (18:04) |
| White2 : Allmusic album Review : A companion piece to the previous years White 1, White 2 once again sees bottom-frequency explorers Sunn O))) stretching their creative limits with three very distinctive, extended pieces of ambient, nearly subsonic non-doom. Indeed, like all Sunn O))) releases before it, White 2 is a pretty specialized affair; offering the sort of bowel-affecting music that would probably stump 99 percent of the planet -- unable to grasp collaborators Greg Anderson and Stephen OMalleys subversive mission of sound in the first place. But for the 1 percent who get it, White 2 represents as uncompromising and usually satisfying a vision of mind-blowing adventure one is likely to find in fringe-metallic quarters. Opener "Hell-o)))-Ween" (a mere song snippet at 14 minutes!) latches onto a series of unfeasibly thick power chords that then proceed to rumble and cascade endlessly upon themselves, patiently building in intensity as they go. The 23-minute "bassAliens" takes a different, more subtle and diverse approach: swimming down to deep, impenetrably dark oceanic trenches before slowly surfacing by way of electronic bleeps and blurps, ultimately cresting in a series of loosely structured digital echoes and electronic farts. Finally, the discs closing, 25-minute colossus "Decay2 (Nihils Maw)," utilizes windy sheets of feedback, ghostly cries, and ghastly shrieks to assemble White 2s most haunting and compelling architecture. Further adorned with bizarre bits of synthetic noise and obscure dialogue, this movement is most notable for featuring unnaturally guttural, nearly unintelligible drone vocals recited by Mayhem legend Attila Csihar, and, in the end, his presence ensures a fittingly cathartic climax for Sunn O)))s latest groundbreaking outing. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.07.02, The Detroit Arts Space, Detroit, MI, USA Released: 2004-07-02 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:03:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:03:19) |
 | Album: 17 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.07.03, Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL, USA Released: 2004-07-03 Tracks: 2 Duration: 58:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 Sound Checking (00:38) 2 02 (57:44) |
 | Album: 18 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.07.29, Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY, USA Released: 2004-07-29 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:13:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:13:46) |
 | Album: 19 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.10.16, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA, USA Released: 2004-10-16 Tracks: 1 Duration: 53:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (53:04) |
 | Album: 20 of 50 Title: Live White Released: 2004-11 Tracks: 12 Duration: 1:24:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 B-Alien Skeleton (14:06) 2 Space Bacon Tractor (10:04) 3 Intone (02:54) 4 Hell-O)))-Ween (09:13) 5 B-Witch (08:21) 6 Nn))) (07:53) 7 Death Becomes You (03:27) 8 Caveman Salad (02:50) 9 Grease Fire (03:15) 10 Bathory, a Tribute To... (05:22) 1 Funerældrone (05:39) 2 Funerælmarch (To the Grave) (11:39) |
| Live White : Allmusic album Review : Live White presents Sunn 0))) as perhaps the most primitive and heaviest power trio in history. Stephen OMalley and Greg Anderson are here joined only by Rex Ritter, who honed his drone with neo-shoegazers Jessamine. Live White covers the basics in the Sunn 0))) discography, containing five tracks of material that appear on White1 under different names, one from Flight of the Behemoth, one from 00 Void, an early version of a track that would appear on Black One ("Caveman Salad" here, "Orthodox Caveman" on the studio album), and some otherwise unreleased tracks ( "Funeralmarch (To the Grave)," "Funeraldrone") on the second disc. The set ranges from the early, Earth-worshipping droning of "NN O)))," through the avant-doom of "B-Alien Skeleton" to the chugging Melvins homage of "Funeralmarch." Needless to say, the album sounds absolutely fantastic the louder that it is played, as the hidden dynamics in the harmonic overtones do not appear at lower volumes. White1s liner notes state "Maximum Volume Yields Maximum Results" and the same is true here. This is true power ambient music, meant to be felt as well as heard. A highlight in Sunn 0)))s catalog, and also the one that is hardest to get, unfortunately. This was severely limited by the label, with no more than 500 copies produced. But it is worth the search. | ||
 | Album: 21 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.12.03, The Spring & Brake, Belfast, N. IRE Released: 2004-12-03 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:02:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:02:44) |
 | Album: 22 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2004.12.07, Scala, London, UK Released: 2004-12-07 Tracks: 1 Duration: 11:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (11:03) |
 | Album: 23 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.03.03, Hi-Fi Bar, Melbourne, AUS Released: 2005-03-03 Tracks: 1 Duration: 36:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (36:33) |
 | Album: 24 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.03.08, The Metro Theatre, Sydney, AUS Released: 2005-03-08 Tracks: 1 Duration: 56:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (56:50) |
 | Album: 25 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.03.09, Gaelic Club, Sydney, AUS Released: 2005-03-09 Tracks: 1 Duration: 59:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (59:32) |
 | Album: 26 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.04.07, Nouveau Casino, Paris, FR Released: 2005-04-07 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:16:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:16:45) |
 | Album: 27 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.04.09, Tilburg, NL Released: 2005-04-09 Tracks: 1 Duration: 43:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (43:54) |
 | Album: 28 of 50 Title: Black One Released: 2005-10-03 Tracks: 9 Duration: 1:45:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sin Nanna (02:18) 2 It Took the Night to Believe (05:56) 3 Cursed Realms (of the Winterdemons) (10:13) 4 Orthodox Caveman (10:00) 5 CandleGoat (08:04) 6 Cry for the Weeper (14:40) 7 Báthory Erzsébet (16:00) 1 Wine and Fog (21:29) 2 Vlad Tepes (16:43) |
| Black One : Allmusic album Review : Although claiming that Black One is the darkest Sunn 0))) album yet may be a little overzealous on their labels part (unless, of course, its meant as a not-so-subtle play on most recent predecessors White1 and 2), theres certainly a good chance that its their most diverse. Whether thats a simple case of there being more and shorter songs present (all of seven, and only shorter by these guys standards, mind you), or an unprecedented volume of outside collaborators (mostly underground black metal buddies lending their vocals), Black One experiments with a number of new tricks to go with the by now expected ultra-droning aspects of Sunn 0)))s sound. For example, both "Orthodox Caveman" and "Cry for the Weeper" drink from the same old, Earth-derived dead-water pool that inspired Greg Anderson and Stephen OMalley to start melting their amps in tribute to begin with; while the improbably brief "It Took the Night to Believe" (featuring blood-curdling shrieks and croaks by Wrest) may well be Sunn 0)))s most unapologetically black metal moment ever, taking a page from Burzums bloody book with its spooky loop of buzz-picked guitar melodies to go with a reliably subterranean foundation. Keeping with the black metal mindset, the pair then proceed to deconstruct Immortals "Cursed Realms (Of the Winterdemons)" into a barely recognizable primordial soup of tonal thrumming, before calling Xasthurs Malefic down to the basement to supply additional screams for the splendidly named "Candlegoat" and megalithic closer, "Báthory Erzsébet." (For the latter, in fact, he was supposedly locked inside a coffin, microphone and all, so as to inspire a suitably suffocating feeling of horror -- proving that extreme sounds sometimes truly do demand extreme measures.) In other words, Black One is a cautious but unquestionable departure from Sunn 0)))s pre-established m.o., and arguably their most accessible effort to date, in the bargain. But even though therell always be those purists looking for a bone to pick, its difficult to imagine too many original fans not embracing these still remarkably blackened sounds. | ||
 | Album: 29 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.10.27, Neumos, Seattle, WA, USA Released: 2005-10-27 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:03:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:03:02) |
 | Album: 30 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.10.29, Berbatis Pan, Portland, OR, USA Released: 2005-10-29 Tracks: 1 Duration: 58:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (58:44) |
 | Album: 31 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2005.12.16, O))) First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA, USA Released: 2005-12-16 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:06:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:06:19) |
 | Album: 32 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.02.10, Islington Academy, London, UK Released: 2006-02-10 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:09:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (01:39) 2 02 (03:24) 3 03 (08:22) 4 04 (02:38) 5 05 (04:02) 6 06 (10:58) 7 07 (01:36) 8 08 (07:29) 9 09 (12:14) 10 10 (05:54) 11 11 (11:30) |
 | Album: 33 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.02.11, Cockpit, Leeds, UK Released: 2006-02-11 Tracks: 1 Duration: 48:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (48:23) |
 | Album: 34 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.02.15, Custard Factory, Birmingham, UK Released: 2006-02-15 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:06:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:06:14) |
 | Album: 35 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.02.17, Point Ephémère, Paris, FR Released: 2006-02-17 Tracks: 1 Duration: 58:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (58:52) |
 | Album: 36 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.03.03, Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL Released: 2006-03-03 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:04:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:04:25) |
 | Album: 37 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.03.14, Casa de Musica, Porto, PT Released: 2006-03-14 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:29:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:29:20) |
 | Album: 38 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.05.26, Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, IL, USA Released: 2006-05-26 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:33:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:33:17) |
 | Album: 39 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.05.27, Wexner Center, Columbus, OH, USA Released: 2006-05-27 Tracks: 1 Duration: 1:10:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (1:10:42) |
 | Album: 40 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2006.05.28, Nyabinghi, Youngstown, OH, USA Released: 2006-05-28 Tracks: 2 Duration: 56:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 Sound Checking (04:37) 2 02 (51:35) |
 | Album: 41 of 50 Title: White Released: 2006-07-20 Tracks: 8 Duration: 2:28:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 My Wall (vinyl edit) (19:11) 2 The Gates of Ballard (15:32) 1 A Shaving of the Horn That Speared You (17:52) 2 CUTWOODeD (15:14) 1 Hell-O)))-Ween (14:11) 2 bassAliens (23:22) 1 Decay2 [Nihils Maw] (25:19) 2 Decay (The Symptoms of Kali Yuga) (18:04) |
 | Album: 42 of 50 Title: Altar Released: 2006-10-23 Tracks: 8 Duration: 1:27:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Her Lips Were Wet With Venom (satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas) (28:14) 1 Etna (09:50) 2 N.L.T. (03:49) 3 The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep) (07:37) 4 Akuma No Kuma (07:52) 5 Fried Eagle Mind (09:46) 6 The Sinking Belle (Black Sheep) (05:05) 7 Blood Swamp (14:45) |
| Altar : Allmusic album Review : Altar is a bona fide collaboration between powersonic drone throners Sunn 0))) and Japans experimental rockist thunderhead Boris. Outfitted by the Southern Lord label (Sunn 0)))s vanity plate) in an oversize digipack with a four-color, 12-page booklet, with black ink on gold metallic pages, its a handsome package to say the least. When looking through the credits one sees not only the bandmembers from Boris -- Takeshi, Wata, and Atsuo -- listed alongside the Sunn 0))) boys Stephen OMalley and Greg Anderson, but a surprising array of guests as well, including Joe Preston of Thrones, High on Fire, Earth, and Melvins fame; Earths Steve Moore; Alan Dubin from OMalleys other gig, Khanate; Rex Ritter of Jessamine; Kim Thayil (formerly of Soundgarden); and -- of all people -- Jesse Sykes and her bandmates Phil Wandscher and Bill Herzog from the Sweet Hereafter. For starters, five of these six cuts are meant to be listened to at spine-dislodging volume on a decent-to-great set of headphones, or at least a set of speakers cranked to Valhalla with your head placed firmly between them. This baby is really, really slow. All of it. Slower than any record by OMalley and Andersons main project. Metalheads may be outrageously bummed at how turtle-like the pace of this set is. But the point is HEAVY, not necessarily "metal." Its drenched in weight and needs volume to lift it off the ground -- and so you can hear everything in this dense mix. When joined together in all their downtuned glory, these guitars and synthesizers actually emit new microphonic tones. The low, pulsating frequencies hack out a space in the wall of drone and offer a new set of tonalities. (Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham did something akin to this with their guitar-and-bass orchestras, but they were going for the high end of the sonic spectrum and used anywhere from 15 to 100 guitars, all tuned differently and strummed in staggered chord progressions, to get those new sounds.) Remarkably, this triangle of guitars with drums -- Sunn 0))) normally doesnt use them -- and synths feels natural here and, using only one or two chords, adds real tension to "Akuma No Kuma," the albums hinge piece. A single low chord, so low and droning as to offer discomfort, is joined by a vocodered voice (Preston) in that same tone (almost like a Tibetan monk chanting prayers gutturally, from the bottom of the throat), which gradually begins to unfold into a minimal modal if not melodic lyric frame. Atsuos "lead drums," a sextet of different synthesizers, a trombone, and percussion (including a chilling gong), become an elliptical, bone-rattling, jaw-grinding drama that seeks resolution. It doesnt get it; these combined elementals are merely mutated into other phases that also remain unfinished. Elsewhere, on "The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)," Sykes croons cinematically (think of a drugged-out Julee Cruise on the Blue Velvet soundtrack) to an uneasy, fractured waltz tempo -- not ushered or guided by drums, but the drone of a lone guitar chord, a series of minimal fills on piano, and Watas space-echoing guitar that evolves into yet another chord, but returns with the same tension. She is a chanteuse here, offering a kind of hunted whispering beauty -- shed be right at home with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti -- to the halted, faltering proceedings that seems to slip into ether as the band begins a slow but deliberate disintegration behind and on top of her singing. When her vocals are multi-tracked on the refrains, the tune moves off the map and digs deep into the consciousness of the listener; it erases every bit of the song that preceded the moment she finds herself in. It disappears in an echoey series of traces and figures, but theres no body left. "Fried Eagle Mind" allows Wata the lead vocal -- if one can even call it that, since it seems to come out of the disembodied textures of the music. Without drums, accompanied only by partially by guitars and a pair of synths that utter and stutter more than speak, it creates a ghostly ambience that has nothing to do with Enos idea of "ambient music." This stuff is impossible to ignore; you cant go about your business when you are melting into a substanceless goo in your chair. The final cut, "Blood Swamp," a nearly 15-minute exercise that evolves from the ominous sound of a shimmering gong, a quintet of guitars, and a pair of synthesizers, is one where the "drone" is taken to its own place of erasure and disappearance entering the drone of silence -- which in and of itself, because of all thats preceded it, is heavy as well. Each series of droning tonalities and tuned-out modes wraps into each developing one, and the hot volume and sonic palette expand into something akin to oblivion. It is not blissful. It is a music of controlled excess, charged with eroticism, terror, death, and transcendence. It is the sound of a horror film unfolding as reality in the dreams of the filmmaker. But it is so utterly brutal in showing you the dark side of its true beauty, so complete in its application of violent stillness, that it cannot be resisted or captured. It can only overcome the listener with its unstated will to domination of the unforgiving nature of sound itself. [There is a mail order-only edition of the set, machine-numbered to 5,000 copies. It contains an extra disc that contains a single 28-minute drone track.] | ||
 | Album: 43 of 50 Title: Monoliths & Dimensions Released: 2009-05-18 Tracks: 4 Duration: 53:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Aghartha (17:34) 2 Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért] (09:42) 3 Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia) (10:02) 4 Alice (16:20) |
| Monoliths & Dimensions : Allmusic album Review : Sunn 0)))s Greg Anderson and Stephen OMalley began their career as an Earth cover band, and explored the extremes of the low-tuned electrics guitars drone capability at maximum volume on The Grimmrobe Demos. Later albums, such as 2005s Black One, showed the duo expanding its sonic extremes, engaging a deep love of black metal by adding shrieking, growling vocals by Wrest, as well as additional instruments (like drums) by Oren Ambarchi. Altar, their collaboration with Japanese rockers Boris, provided them with a wider textural and ambient canvas to explore. Their vinyl-only release Dømkirke, recorded in a 100-year-old cathedral in Norway, utilized the building itself as an instrument, where its nooks and crannies echoed back microtones of the bands own high-powered drones on tape. That said, nothing could have prepared listeners for the wide-ranging adventure that is Monoliths and Dimensions. This 53-minute set contains four tracks. OMalley and Anderson utilize more guests and collaborators than ever before, including vocalist Attila Csihar, who gives his greatest performance since Mayhems De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas; Ambarchi; Earths Dylan Carlson; trombonists such as jazzman Julian Priester and the Deep Listening Bands Stuart Dempster; trumpeter Cuong Vu; multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore; male and female choirs; other reed and wind players; and violist Eyvind Kang as an arranger. While Sunn 0))) sound exactly like themselves, they seem to approach the music of composers such as Arvo Pärt and John Cage; they utilize the formers tintinnabuli (three bells) theory as well as engage the latters notion of silence as a process. If all this sounds pretentious, think again about who were talking about: the kings of wearing black hooded robes to perform. The set begins with "Aghartha," full of power drone low-tuned guitars, as one might expect. Slow and plodding for five and a half minutes, it pummels on until Csihar enters in a lower than low yet barely audible voice speaking a long poem about the creation of a new Earth. Priester later enters playing a conch shell, two acoustic double bassists come in on the low end, Ambarchi plays a second electric guitar and effects, a piano sparingly adds both chord and single-note lines, and other horns and reeds flit about the background even as the piece remains unchanging in its focus. "Big Church" is the biggest shock. Commencing with an a cappella female choir, its soon intruded upon by four electric guitars; Csihar eventually enters in throat-singing overtone mode, as does a synth, and the tension becomes unbearable before the tune stops in dead silence. Then, bells, an organ, Kangs viola, and trombone all find their way through the immense space provided by the slow droning yet extremely heavy riffs. Feedback screams in and then the bells enter again before power riffs crush them out. A "man choir" participates on "Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)," with percussion, a huge Moog Voyager, electric tamboura, and horns amid the droning guitar mayhem slowly penetrating the listeners skull like a giant worm. By the time the set ends with "Alice," featuring a trio of trombones, woodwinds, reeds, ambient sounds, enormous guitars, and oscillators, the effect is complete. Monoliths and Dimensions succeeds because it is the sound of a new music formed from the ashen forge of drone, rock, and black metal. In its seemingly impenetrable, slow, spacious, heavy sonic darkness, this is the new way forward for not only Sunn 0))), but for extreme rock music and possibly even whats left of the avant-garde. Brilliant. | ||
 | Album: 44 of 50 Title: LA Reh 012 Released: 2014-01-13 Tracks: 2 Duration: 38:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Last One / Valentines Day (18:02) 2 Invisible / Sleeper (20:26) |
 | Album: 45 of 50 Title: Terrestrials Released: 2014-01-31 Tracks: 5 Duration: 1:01:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Let There Be Light (11:27) 2 Western Horn (09:38) 3 Eternal Return (14:10) 1 Eternal Return (Rough 2009) (14:05) 2 Fidelio (Experiment 2009) (11:42) |
| Terrestrials : Allmusic album Review : The three long tracks on Terrestrials were initially cut in 2008, during a single, night-long recording session by Sunn 0))) and Oslos shapeshifting ensemble Ulver. Over the next four years, the formers Stephen OMalley and the latters Kristoffer Rygg added various musical elements to the recordings, creating something that retained the cooperative, spontaneous spirit of the session, but also transcended it. On 2009s Monoliths & Dimensions, Sunn 0))) expanded their musical reach considerably, adding instruments, sounds, and spaces to their palette while never forsaking their spine-quaking trademark sound. Ulver has always been a shape-shifting group, from their origins as a black metal band to creating ambient soundtracks and rock records to delivering 2013s Messe I.X-VI.X, an unholy post-rock and classical meld with the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra. On 2014s Terrestrials, opener "Let There Be Light" commences with the most minimal of keyboard and string sounds with backmasked guitar in a single, gently pulsing drone that gradually expands itself to include layers of foreboding, wavering brass (Stig Espen Hundsnes). The music crescendos with Greg Andersons thunderous bass and Tomas Pettersens furious tom-toms. Anderson introduces "Western Horn," with OMalleys guitar vamping on a single-note drone. Keys, ambient effects, and trumpet waft in and heaviness ensues. Its offset only by a melodic Fender Rhodes adding a touch of the perverse as feedback and squall rule the center and foreground. It remains still and brooding until brass and marimba make the tension nearly unbearable. Violins, OMalleys shard-like guitar, and Rhodes introduce magnificent closer "Eternal Return." It simultaneously evokes droning raga and a spaghetti western score. Eventually, marimba, Andersons rumbling bass, church organ, and sculpted sonics wind it out until a near-classical interlude commences with fluttering, then pulsing strings, a minimal hypnotic synth, and Ryggs near chanted vocal. They create a prelude to a minimal abstraction before the cut reconstructs itself into a beautiful, blackened drone before fading into silence. Those who enjoyed Monoliths & Dimensions should find Terrestrials accomplished, disciplined and, in its way, heavy as hell. It perfectly reflects both Sunn 0)))s impenetrably emotional dark heart and Ulvers expertly crafted senses of drama and dynamic. | ||
 | Album: 46 of 50 Title: Soused Released: 2014-10-20 Tracks: 5 Duration: 48:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Brando (08:45) 2 Bull (09:23) 3 Herod 2014 (12:01) 1 Fetish (09:09) 2 Lullaby (09:24) |
| Soused : Allmusic album Review : Soused is unlike any previous Scott Walker recording for two reasons. First, its a complete collaboration with the doom drone duo Sunn 0))); second, it, unlike any of his albums since 1984s Climate of Hunter, requires no previous context for appreciation. While these five tracks are undeniably "heavy," as a whole the music is more conventionally "melodic" than one would anticipate from this pairing. Sunn 0)))s Greg Anderson and Stephen OMalley add their third guitarist, Tos Nieuwenhuizen, while Walker is again assisted by longtime associate keyboardist and sound sculptor Peter Walsh, with an unusually small cast of players. "Brando" kicks off with bright keyboards and Nieuwenhuizen playing lead lines straight out of 80s pop-metal. Walkers baritone erupts like hes singing musical theater: "Ah the wide Missouri/Dwellers on the bluff/Across the wide Missouri..." before his centered denouement admits "...No, never enough...." Sunn 0)))s overdriven power drones, a bass drum, and the sound of cracking bullwhips enter before Walker intones: "A beating would do me a world of good." The fractured imagistic narrative unfolds lyrically and sonically, juxtaposing pastoral nature with violence as the language of exchange in power and submission, religiously and carnally. In "Herod 2014," Walker addresses one of his favorite topics: totalitarianism. He uses the New Testament narrative of the slaughter of innocents as a metaphor for the endgame of state paranoia. Amid distorted and detuned angular guitar drones are massive throbbing keyboard and drum effects and a lone bell. Though sometimes nearly drowned in the mix, the bell is constant -- the mothers voice protecting her children. "Bull"s atonal guitars squall onto a wall of sine-wave hum, feedback, Moog, bleating trumpet, and voices in dynamic textural shifts. Its dangerously, deliciously close to heavy metal. "Lullaby" is the most abstract thing here, yet its recurring sectional themes are easy to accommodate. A limited palette of sonic colors creates a frame for doomy, droning, and stinging metallic guitar riffs, dissonant and melodic keyboard effects, and programmed drums. Throughout the set, Walkers lyrics are more than poetic devices; theyre textural and sonic elements that add dimension to his singing. As defined here, "Soused" accurately means "drenched" in sound. Walkers and Sunn 0)))s individual identities, while always on full display, are brought jaggedly and thunderously together in an enthralling recording that equals the sum of its mighty parts. | ||
 | Album: 47 of 50 Title: Kannon Released: 2015-11-27 Tracks: 5 Duration: 55:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Kannon 1 (12:50) 2 Kannon 2 (09:09) 3 Kannon 3 (11:26) 1 Sending Pearl of Light (Kannon 1 alternate mix) (12:52) 2 She Played Such Music, Flowers Blossomed (Kannon 2 alternate mix) (09:10) |
| Kannon : Allmusic album Review : When is nothing something? When is empty full? Kannon, Sunn O)))s first "solo" project since 2009s Monoliths & Dimensions, poses these questions sonically. Stephen OMalley and Greg Anderson enlisted old friends to assist: Co-producer Randall Dunn (who also plays synths), vocalist Attila Csihar, guitarist Oren Ambarchi, percussionist Brad Mowen, Rex Ritter on Moog, and a brass trio that includes Julian Priester, Stuart Dempster, and Tony Moore. The album title is named for the feminine Buddhist deity of mercy, Kanon (or Quan Yin), who "perceives all the sounds and cries of the world." (In the Tibetan male form, she is the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas.) Kannon is structured as a three-part, numbered "triadic whole." Artist and theorist Aliza Shvarts, in her lengthy, soundly argued liner essay, describes them thusly: "Kannon 1": Invocation, "Kanon 2": Intonation, and "Kanon 3": Perpetuation. She brilliantly argues the question: "What is metal about mercy?" and proceeds to critique the notion of metals power as not merely penetrative but immersive -- this album is most certainly the latter. "Kanon I" offers Andersons earth quaking bass in full, dirty drone as OMalleys guitar repeats an ascending and descending three-note pattern. Csihar whispers, groans, and quietly growls poetic lyrics inspired directly by the Buddhist legend so elastically and deliberately, they are almost impossible to distinguish. Emanating from a wall of white noise, they entwine their heaviness with layers of massive ambient sound from synths and low brass. "Kannon 2" commences with squalling guitar feedback and raw, single guitar notes played in a pattern of four that repeat in reverse "choruses." The overblown bass drone enters at two-and-a-half minutes, and Csihar delivers his lyrics first in a Gregorian chant style that represents a "canonical" or traditional structure which, as Shvarts critiques, is itself a linguistic term that equates with Western male power structures. But Csihar then shifts (effortlessly) to Eastern throat singing, a folk style shared by sheepherders and monks alike. Sunn O))) turn the musics amplified power back on itself to allow his voices not only presence but fluidity. That cooperative flow is broken by the sound of a violent explosion that gives way to a sarod-esque drone. The effect is unsettling. "Kannon 3" is a studio version of "Canon" from 2008s live album Dømkirke. OMalleys piercing two-note theme harmonically registers with the powerful synth and a rumbling bassline. Along with waves of controlled noise, Csihars guttural vocal builds with the music until hes shrieking apocalyptically. The instrumental attack remains nearly glacial while its intensity increases exponentially. Large swathes of formless noise flow through the crashing waves until a final swell of feedback consumes it all until it blacks out. On Kannon, Sunn O))) illustrates through heavy sonic immersion that noise and silence are equals -- aspects of circular, self-perpetuating emptiness. Like the persona of the deity, they generously receive and contain all the sounds of the world in all their dimensions of darkness and light. | ||
 | Album: 48 of 50 Title: SUNN O))) - 2017.07.13, SWX, Bristol, UK (MONO) Released: 2017-07-13 Tracks: 1 Duration: 2:00:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 01 (2:00:09) |
 | Album: 49 of 50 Title: Downtown LA Rehearsal / Rifftape March 1998 Released: 2018-05-30 Tracks: 2 Duration: 33:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Room 206 pt.1 / Room 206 pt.2 / B-Witch (13:36) 2 Room 206 pt.3 / The Grimm Robe/Black Wedding / Mustaine/Thorns / M&D I.L.F. / The DJs (19:25) |
 | Album: 50 of 50 Title: Life Metal Released: 2019-04-13 Tracks: 4 Duration: 1:08:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% TrackSamples AlbumCover | 1 Between Sleipnir’s Breaths (12:38) 2 Troubled Air (11:45) 3 Aurora (19:06) 4 Novæ (25:24) |