Sunn O))) - Black One

GreenPea · #1 02-24-2006, 11:30 AM

If anyone is into heavy, dark, evil, doom, drone metal they have too check this out. This is the blackest 'metal' album I've heard in my life. I've been listining to this for over a month and I won't grow bored of it (like with any challenging album I guess).

Review Taken From Metal Review:

Quote:

[COLOR=white]First things first with this review: see those three numbers just above this text? DISREGARD THOSE NUMBERS. Completely. This band, or collective, or whatever it is, can’t really be judged on the same criteria as the majority of the material reviewed here; Sunn0)))’s music is far too esoteric and amorphous to be accurately considered metal, and that fact will likely drive away many a metalhead.

Fact is, I’m not sure this shit can be rightly considered music, and at this point there ought not to be many people still reading at all. Those who still are probably have a standing familiarity with the breed of sludge/drone/ambient/avante-garde noise assault that Sunn0))) produces, and would likely be satisfied no matter what this bizarrely iconic Khanate side project produced. However, for the very few uninitiated still present, I’ll do what I can do elucidate this…I hesitate to call it a style. Philosophy seems more appropriate.

As far as I can tell, this shit is heaviness removed from the context of ‘heavy metal’ and taken to its logical extreme. The sonic weight captured on this disc is incalculable, and its delivery is about as palatable and user-friendly as an untranslated Hegel manuscript. The ‘songs’ are free of rhythm and often also devoid of identifiable instruments, and tend to run towards the lengthy side of things. The aesthetic effect has less in common with traditional music than it does with primitive stone obelisks and monuments; Sunn0)))’s output is virtually immobile and static, conveying a single idea with mind-blowing gravity.

The fact that this is likely Sunn0)))’s darkest album to date makes things that much more interesting, or that much more unlistenable, depending on your perspective. Black One opens with the uncharacteristically brief ambience of “Sin Nanna” before launching…erm…shifting into “It Took the Night to Believe.” The track features, believe it or not, somewhat recognizable guitar and bass and something approaching but not quite achieving rhythm. Whatever measure of comfort and confidence the listener can take from such a familiar setting won’t last long, though. “Cursed Realms (Of The Winterdemons)” begins the album in proper, annihilating all vestiges of musical tradition and leaving a blasted, desolate landscape over which massive bodies of static tumble in slow motion. The only remotely human aspects of the track are heavily distorted, howling vocals, but they’re far too bleak and distant to offer any sort of respite. The punishing drones and textures that make up the body of Black One are far too stark for extended listening without the aid of mind-altering drugs; all but the hardiest listeners will want to attack this monolith piece by piece. Even those can prove daunting, as the fifteen-minute running time of icy closer “Bathory Erzebet” will attest.

This is the sort of musical idiot-savantry that I can never decide if I love or despise. If nothing else, this band’s work should be credited as an extremely interesting experiment with the boundaries of music, straddling the line between the absolute extreme edge of doom metal inhabited by Earth and Buried At Sea and the sterile, unapproachable chaos of Masami Akita’s Merzbow project. It is utterly bleak, incredibly challenging, and maddeningly deliberate. Oh yeah, and it’s heavy as fuck. Listen at your own risk. [/COLOR]

http://www.southernlord.com/sunn.htm

Definitely my favorite album from last year.

DeJackyl · #2 02-24-2006, 04:02 PM

Had it for three months or so. It's brilliant! By and far the most progressive music out there these days.

If you want something a little lighter but just as good check out Growing.

Stephen · #3 02-24-2006, 06:07 PM

Umm, umm, umm. What?

I've just downloaded 'Cursed Realms' (Yup, I jumped in at the start of the 'album proper') and it's utterly fucking wrong. I'm going to grab the whole thing (don't think I could bring myself to physically pay money for this, sorry guys but my guess is you're not really seeking/expecting commercial success here anyway) to stick on my mp3 player and play to people as seriously as I can manage. Or maybe scare girls that I don't want to see anymore with it. Like this girl I was seeing but getting a bit fed up with I told my housemate that when she came round, we'd just sit in the dark playing Manhunt on the PS2 and not say a word to each other. That's how real men do it.

That track was strangely relaxing you know?

Stephen · #4 02-24-2006, 06:16 PM

Oh yeah, reminds me of the last Dopplereffekt album, Linear Accelerator. Droning soundscapes without definable loops or a groove that you pin down for more than a few seconds. Although the last 2 tracks of that album were quite nice and a bit tuneful. Don't imagine that happens here. Where Dopplereffekt used un-synchronised industrial loops (and proper industrial loops, most of it sounded like real machines), these fruitcakes use god knows fucking what.

And no drums! Plenty of fucked up screaming noises though. Anyone who listens to this on acid deserves everything they get.

Do they play live? If they make it over here I'll go. I'll wear my hot pink Fred Perry polo shirt and everything.

GreenPea · #5 02-24-2006, 10:27 PM

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Originally Posted by Stephen

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Do they play live? If they make it over here I'll go. I'll wear my hot pink Fred Perry polo shirt and everything.

Yup. They play live and their shows are supposed to be amazing and really loud. There is supposed to be so much bass that you more physically feel the music than hear it. They dress in druid robes, play in churches, is cool!

They are touring in Europe right now. Played very few shows in the states.