Sunn O))) - Sunn O))) Sunn O)))

Album of the Week – Staff Review

Sunn O))) may not have invented drone metal, that credit goes to fellow Washingtonians Earth, but the group, founded in Seattle in 1998, have sure as hell perfected it. The influential duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson have, over nearly 30 years, created some of the heaviest, most unique, and transcendental contributions to the increasingly amorphous sphere of metal.
 
The self-titled Sunn O))) is the band’s debut for Sub Pop, and their first full-length release since 2019’s twin albums Life Metal and Pyroclasts. Like its closest chronological relatives in the Sunn catalogue, it is a gargantuan, monolithic slab. As punishingly visceral and physical as anything in their singular body of work, Sunn O))) is a rumbling, growling behemoth, one that once again pushes further into our understanding of sound as a physical, living force than most recorded music.

As is customary, the band’s sonic landscape is built on the unhurried churn of down-tuned, distorted guitar. Riffs, if we can call them that, unfurl with precision and purpose, often stretching beyond ten minutes across five of the album’s six tracks. The 18-minute opener, XXANN, hums, drones, and gurgles with foreboding intent, before sinewy, spine-tingling squeals of overdriven guitar briefly cut across its lumbering path.
 
Despite its sheer volume and the attritional demands it places on listeners, the experience of Sunn O)))’s music is not unlike ambient music as pioneered by Brian Eno. The difference lies in the environments it evokes. Rather than spaces of calm or the everyday, Sunn O))), akin to the work of drone pioneer Eliane Radigue, conjure something far more ungraspable and ominous. Invasive and enveloping drones soundtracking desolate, infernal landscapes, closer to psychological or elemental extremes than anything recognisably human.

As is customary, the band’s sonic landscape is built on the unhurried churn of down-tuned, distorted guitar. Riffs, if we can call them that, unfurl with precision and purpose, often stretching beyond ten minutes across five of the album’s six tracks. The 18-minute opener, XXANN, hums, drones, and gurgles with foreboding intent, before sinewy, spine-tingling squeals of overdriven guitar briefly cut across its lumbering path.
 
Despite its sheer volume and the attritional demands it places on listeners, the experience of Sunn O)))’s music is not unlike ambient music as pioneered by Brian Eno. The difference lies in the environments it evokes. Rather than spaces of calm or the everyday, Sunn O))), akin to the work of drone pioneer Eliane Radigue, conjure something far more ungraspable and ominous. Invasive and enveloping drones soundtracking desolate, infernal landscapes, closer to psychological or elemental extremes than anything recognisably human.

Given the nature of Sunn O)))’s approach, there is little that resembles traditional song structure. This is music that exists entirely on its own terms. It’s about texture, atmosphere and immersion. And like the Mark Rothko paintings that adorn its cover, Sunn O))) is a voyage into a blurred, abstracted psychological state. A skewed, nightmarish reality. An entrancing void.

Sunn O))) - Sunn O))) is out now on vinyl & CD.

The debut Sub Pop full-length by drone-metal pioneers sunn O))) is a massive, atmospheric journey into a world of crumbling time and space, crackling low-end guitar rumble, and unexpectedly delicate naturalistic textures.
Cover art by Mark Rothko, titan of 20th century art. Liner notes by acclaimed author Robert Macfarlane (Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Is A River Alive?)
Produced by sunn O))) and Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Sunny Day Real Estate).
For fans of Black Sabbath, Earth 2, Slint, early Melvins, Coil, Venom, Glenn Branca, doom metal, ambient, devotional, experimental.

For nearly 30 years, SUNN O))) – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson – have pushed the boundaries of heavy music, straddling the worlds of the avant-garde and rock to forge a style instantly recognisable as their own. Now, SUNN O))) return with their first album of new material since 2019’s acclaimed Pyroclasts. Their tenth album – their debut for Sub Pop – demonstrates the duo’s mastery of time and space, light and dark, and their willingness to evolve their unmistakable sound into bold new forms.
The eponymously titled SUNN O))) was tracked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington with Brad Wood (HuM, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair). This location proved crucial to the recording process. “The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” says O’Malley. “We could go hiking and be out in the woods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.”
SUNN O))) have long welcomed collaborators into their self-contained world: past work has featured, Attila Csihar (Mayhem), composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore, polymath Mark Deutrom, Silkworm’s Tim Midyett and legendary singer-songwriter Scott Walker. But on this album O’Malley and Anderson found fresh possibilities in the primal territory of the duo format, performing all the instrumentation themselves. “What’s been happening with our performances over the last couple years with the two of us and no other collaborators has been really fresh and exciting,” says Anderson.
The compositions on SUNN O))) are expansive and panoramic yet finely detailed, reflecting the arboreal setting in which they were recorded. Amidst howling feedback and glacial crunch, one finds surprisingly delicate moments: a field recording of water trickles beneath, piano interludes lend a hushed, solemn feel. All while the duo attains fresh heights of telepathic intensity as they shape music that breathes the bracing, earthy air of the Pacific Northwest.
Framing the album visually are two paintings by the late American artist Mark Rothko. Liner notes are by award-winning British writer Robert Macfarlane, famed for his works concerning landscape and the relationship between humanity and nature. Through the work of the band, Macfarlane, and Rothko, sound, word and visual combine into a fully immersive experience that is undeniably, completely SUNN O)))