When Sunn O))) toured as the Shoshin (初心) Duo in 2024, in many ways it was the beginning of a new chapter for Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson. The expanded version of the band, which included Tim Midyett, Tos Nieuwenhuizen, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Stephen Moore and Anthony Pateras, ending in spectacular fashion alongside Anna von Hausswolff who brought the whole thing to a crescendo on Metta, Benevolence BBC 6music: Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs.
Dragging psychedelia to new corners, at the time it felt like peak Sunn O))). Metta, Benevolence… while a live recording of material from Life Metal and Pyroclasts, its roaming nature morphed the compositions into new, unrecognisable forms. A logical conclusion of the meditative themes explored during Life Metal and Pyroclasts, still to this day, it’s just as much a Sunn O))) album as any other.
While many talk of Max Richter’s Sleep as perfect aid for, well, just that, as such concepts turned many (including myself) from doubters into believers, Metta, Benevolence… sits in very the same world. Its tonal subtleties like magic granules that alleviate the burdens for troubled sleepers. (Try it, it works.)
Tonal Intoxication: In Conversation with The Lord’s Greg Anderson and Petra Haden
On their self-titled, tenth studio release, O’Malley and Anderson move beyond, reaching fever pitch in this glorious new chapter. The duo, thrashing things out over a tower of amps, which are eclipsed by the number of guitar tracks that almost reach the sky. It’s this stripped back approach that finds O’Malley and Anderson at their untethered best. Succumbing to nature, where alongside Brad Wood at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, they recorded Sunn O))). The backdrop of the environment, playing a vital role, as it takes hold like never before.
Wood is no stranger in this later period of Sunn O))) folklore. Having previously working with Anderson, who under The Lord alias, reached the promised land alongside Petra Haden for their 2022 release, Devotional. Here, the producer carries on from the legacy of Steve Albini’s work on Life Metal and Pyroclasts. Harnessing new techniques, the snapshots were evident on Sunn O)))’s Eternity’s Pillars b/w Raise the Chalice & Reverential EP last year, which coincided with the announcement of their signing to Sub Pop. The perfect matrimony that solidifies their Seattle roots.
Sunn O))) - Sunn O)))Sunn O))) is the duo’s unadulterated metal album. There’s bark and bite. And like all metal albums, there’s humour, led by Does Anyone Hear Like Venom? (Something inspired by their Shoshin (初心) Duo tour, as the British metal behemoth could be heard cannoning from the speakers before smoke filled the stage.) On this particularly occasion, Sunn O))) dispense the kind of unearthly vibrations that rattle your eyeballs.
Not before the the avalanche of the sound that is XXANN. The kind of tremor and tonality that sits somewhere between catharsis and paralysis. Is it a new form of mediation designed for open fields or the impending doom of the Hell’s Angels’ most violent chapter? You be the judge.
As its titled suggests, Butch’s Guns possesses the same thundering volumes. Screaming skull terror that reaches the deepest part of the black pit such moments inspire, it’s these sinister forces that continue on Mindrolling. Beginning with the same dripping water that can be heard during XXANN, in the only way they know how, O’Malley and Anderson pay homage to the milieu in which Sunn O))) was conceived. The storm clouds, rolling in as the duo rain fresh hell.
And there’s more of it on Everett Moses. A torturing dreadscape that bleeds into Glory Black where the cranial overload is complete. Like Butch’s Guns, see the title and let the rolling feedback carry you to the desired end. It’s where O’Malley and Anderson’s alliance strengthens, achieved by exploring the outer reaches and submitting to the sheer force of nature instead of trying to destroy it. Like a mantra, the sea of volume O’Malley and Anderson conjure on Sunn O))) creates an ungodly trance. The meditative aims of Life Metal, Pyroclasts and Metta, Benevolence…, stretched and reimagined in existential darkness.
It’s dynamic and dangerous. And harnessed by Wood as an auxiliary third member, he helps thrust these pieces off the floor. While Life Metal felt like life metal, on Sunn O))) O’Malley and Anderson dwarf themselves. It’s as malevolent as anything Sunn O))) have released, and by reaching maximum results via a minimalist approach, it could go on to be their greatest feat.
Sunn O))) is out now via Sub Pop. Purchase from Bandcamp.
