Sunn O)))
Monoliths & Dimensions
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Label: Southern Lord
When my copy of Monoliths & Dimensions arrived, the mailer from Southern Lord read “Let There Be Doom.” Though I had never heard anything from Sunn O))) before, their storied history of long, feedback-drenched variations had not bypassed me. I will admit up front that my interest in metal is slight, though there are a few albums that have permanent status in my collection. Whether I am the most qualified person to review the band’s latest release is immaterial. I am a music fan first and foremost and though I may not own every drone metal album to date, my perceptions are still valid.
I have never really heard anything like Monoliths & Dimensions. Running close to an hour with only four tracks, the record is a dark exercise of ambient noise combined with a dose of the melodrama of the black arts. Discarding any of the tropes present in most heavy metal (angry men shouting about death, destruction and evil), Sunn O))) members Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley are more interested in exploring the places that trance and silence can take us, creating a minimalist work where the empty spaces have quite a bit to say.
The album begins with “Aghartha,” a 17-minute dirge filled with droning feedback, sound effects from a conch shell and the discordant noise of horns, piano, bass and guitar. Vocalist Attila Csihar recites an incantation in a grumbling croak, a monolithic voice of doom about the creation of a new world. Before the song ends, all music fades out and all we’re left with is the haunting voice, the wild wind and running water. Following track “Big Church” begins with a choir before being blown to pieces by electric guitar. Once again, Sunn O))) plays with our tolerance, grinding forward with its entrancing sounds until leaving us in the silence once more. Then it’s another explosion to jar us from one hypnotic state to another. “Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)” adds Csihar’s vocals in Hungarian and tribal drumming to the drone. As the song pushes the 10-minute mark, its structure becomes more insidious.
“Alice,” the final track of the album, is a big departure from the rest of Monoliths. In what could be described as a black metal/blues mash-up, that whirring guitar is replaced by a cavalcade of instruments. Though it may sound as if some levity has entered this universe, think again. It’s another variation on similar themes, except this time, the sun may have entered the land of Sunn O))).
Monoliths & Dimensions is a dark, complex work from a band that will not appeal to everyone. Anderson and O’Malley are working with heady topics, making a listen to this album much akin to the experience of sitting through Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. There is nothing tongue-in-cheek here, only some serious doom.
by David Harris
