Life Metal
by Sunn O)))

I was about halfway through the second piece and i couldnt get any further. Huge, monstrous sound, but gets dull pretty quick. Not for me im afraid.

From thirstyDog 05/04/2019 02:13 | #235836 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I've listened to Sunn O))) before and couldn't get into it. I saw this album and thought I'd give them another shot.
This band baffles me. Each song, a chord rings out for 10 seconds, then another chord rings out for 10 seconds, et cetera for 10 minutes. I don't see the appeal. I don't care how detailed the production is, it's so boring.

Sunn O))) have the same concept since 1998. Despite all that the band has now predictable, their merit is that they having invented a musical concept, the drone metal. The two band members, Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, had both a fascinating idea and a deadly boredom. Their first albums are, in my opinion, absolute musical masterpieces and all the rest is deeply boring. What about their new work "Life Metal" ? If you like the big fat dirty sounds of guitars amplified by thousands of watts, you will be served. "Life Metal" is therefore stuffy, like any album of the band, but releases a certain luminescence. This mass of vibrations gives the impression of being in the fog, without demarcation between heaven and earth, where all sensation of movement is erased. But there is a glow anyway. After years of minimalist and gloomy repetition, Sunn O))) will have at least managed to surprise a little bit again.

6/10

From Anti 04/26/2019 21:37 | #235546 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

God damn. God DAMN. GOD DAMN.

First off, this album just SOUNDS immaculate. Straight analogue recordings with Steve Albini production. The heavily layered guitar drones that Sunn O))) is known for are definitely there, but the DETAILS are incredible! You can hear the movement of their fingers across the neck of the guitars; you can hear the string vibrations at the end of Novae; the only vocals on the first track are centered and EQd perfectly, yet surrounded by the ritualistic colossal instrumentation. Everything just SOUNDS good.

Second, this is certainly an experience. Blast it loud, do nothing else, but let the vibrations surround your body (or ears if you got headphones on), and let your mind transport. You'll leave this dimension, let alone this Earth. It's a celestial album, it's meditative, warm, ritualistic.

God damn.