Primarily best appreciated as a mighty live act. No format is able to capture the might of extreme weight, volume and physical force of witnessing Sunn 0)) in person. So live show remains the best way to experience their peculiar brand of volume ritual if you dare!
The whole Sunn 0))) project can be viewed as a tribute and continuation of the work started by Dylan Carlson in his grunge era Seattle group Earth. Their 1992 album Earth 2 stood alone at that time as investigating long form drone and distorted guitar meditations, forgoing rhythm and melody for immersion and volume. Sunn 0))) follow this tradition into a darkened portal.
For those of you turned off by anything vaguely resembling metal, Sunn 0))) are a hard sell. They fully immerse themselves into the culture and theater of metal, despite also incorporating influences from outside of the metal sphere, namely free jazz and the avant-garde. I would imagine that they fall squarely into what the Sleaford Mods refer to as 'Blow me down with a feather, cloak and dagger bollocks'.
However as mods everywhere look at the world through clear eyes and see the REAL, the worlds of Sunn 0))) and other psychedelecists also concern the unknown and unseen. As 80's-90's turntablists Coldcut once said, Hip Hoppers would do well to listen to Mark E Smith; well I would also suggest that electronic, Dubstep and D'n'B acts could learn from what Sunn 0))) are able to achieve with bass frequencies, and feedback to build tension over extended forms.
I first saw Sunn 0))) live at Autechres 2003 ATP festival at Pontins Camber Sands (an electronic group natch). Seeing them among the cutting edge of electronica, grime, hip-hop and the avant-garde they made perfect sense. Fully robed, faces hidden, and stage enveloped in toxic amounts of dry ice their sloth like downtuned riffs, was a ritual of the physicality of volume. Sometime vocalist Attila Csihar looked like he had been exhumed earlier that day, maybe he was 500 years old like Dracula, he muttered deep throated incantations to human failure. The effect was biological.
Monoliths and Dimensions was their 6th studio album and most successful as a home listening experience due to its not being an attempt to recreate a live experience, but as a standalone musical piece. The usual blazing white light of feedback drone is supplemented by colour added from collaborators, giving the impression of a shimmering illusion at the bottom of a black lake.
Featured musicians include Attila Csihar on three of the four long tracks, Eyvind Kang who adds orchestration, brass, and strings; and Julian Priester the legendary jazz trumpeter who does blistering work on Alice. There is also a featured choir.
Two tracks, Aghartha and Big Church are named after late 70's period Miles Davis tracks. Big Church starts with some kind of incantation, the track is halted twice by bell tolls, choirs rise and fall, and the dry, cold vocals make like Nosferatu shaping the elements against humankind.
Alice is perhaps the most moving Sunn 0))) track, with the trumpet and a suggestion of ascension providing a glimpse of positivity.
Definitely see them live though. A Bristol gig at Trinity Hall from around this period which I missed, and was attended by my brother Ben and a friend, was described in terms of incredulity in terms of shear volume and spectacle. Attila was clothed in mirrors which reflected a headspinning laser show.
Sunn 0))), give it a go.
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