Metal Reviews

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If this is anything like White2 then it shouldn't be getting reviewed as music.

Don't worry they took this one in more of a four part vocal harmony direction.

Interesting you mention the "Black metal aura". I totally agree. I remember the band talking about how they saw Black metal as one of their major inspirations in a terrorizer interview, I think. That's evidenced not only by their choice of guests, but also by the fact that this seems like almost anti-music to me- but in an exhilirating way. Like in the most extremely misanthropic black metal, there seems to be a desire to punish the listener, and confront them with sounds that they don't want to hear. I suppose the two genres are united in their desire to spit in the face of anyone expecting a comfortable listening experience.

I once fell asleep listening to this album.

I accept almost everything but this band surpasses the limit...

Nice review, Sunn O))) ain't bad at all.

Exactly. Nothing we want to hear.

Hehe, but sometimes there is great pleasure in acquiring a taste you never thought you'd acquire

Well done, Daniel. It appears I'm in the minority, but I love this album. I find it to be very relaxing and atmospheric. I think the addition of certain black metal elements really makes album this stand out against the rest of their discography.

Agreed, well reviewed. Sunn O))) are all about the effect the music has on the listener, and this is a damn good album.

Thank god for bands like this.

This is a band that has one sole aim: for you to FEEL the music. I'm tired of all the shallow crap out there giving metal a bad name. We need bands pushing the boundaries of our senses. Sure, it's not something you listen to for fun, but fun isn't needed in music anyway.

You simply degrade your musical self until you like it, probably because some other kvlt git finds it rad. Same thing happened with Darkthrone ten years ago.

That's quite a statement though, to say all Sunn 0))) fans are degrading themselves to fit in with other kvlt people? They're not really that kvlt anyway. I've seen them on the cover of mainstream magazines!

Either way, they are actually much more "accessible" than many other bands that your statement may more accurately be aimed at

They don't all degrade themselves, bad taste has to come from somewhere. Magazine covers eh? Well, the hype has expanded to the press, then.



Accessibility varies from person to person. I personally can see why some people would like this, but I've never gotten on too well with total anti-hype music. I'm a visual artist, academically schooled, so perhaps I have peculiar views of why a piece of art is/was popular/unpopular, and personally I'm not buying this non-musical bullshit that tries to break all barriers, failing to recognise the purpose of these barriers.

But what barriers does it break? Melody? Rhythm? Indeed it does, but these are things which had already been done away with in the avant garde sections of other music forms long before Sunn 0))), so I don't accept the argument that some people make: That they are lone rebels without a cause who have taken experimentation one step too far. Nor do I accept that music that has broken these barriers is incapable of being very powerfully emotional. I remember clearly someone telling me about how he and some friends had played one single tone on a piano, but had kept it sustained for hours on end. At first they found it boring- but eventually they said they became emotionally attached to this one tone, and when they finally stopped it they actually felt a deep sense of loss! This is the kind of phenomena that I think bands like this are exploring.

What they are doing certainly has precedent in classical music- and in the works of composers like Cage, Stockhausen etc there is a similar spirit of destruction- unpicking the elements that we recognise as being the foundation stones of music. Even if I am not in the mood to listen to their music, it is worth "experiencing" just to see how metal can withstand this type of reduction. Pretty well, in my opinion.

Well perhaps this is overanalysis, but to me one of the beauties of this album is the way it invites you to think deeply about what it means. I too have academic schooling in the arts (the guy who told me the one-tone story was a lecturer of mine) so discussions like these are something I enjoy a lot.

Actually, their music is made is more for live concerts. Those who have seen them (not my case) say that their concerts are from another world... Because of the low frequency's and effects they use live, the effect on the audiency is one of two...or you get hypnotized by their music or you become agonized and leave, possibly not even at half the show... lol... And they come to the stage in monk suits with their faces covered and an immence smoke/fog... talking about weird things hey? On an album the effect is not, in fact, the same. This was told to me by people who actually saw the show....

About the album I give them 95. Not alot of bands can make music and still emulate a real scary/halloween cave ambience... Perfect music to fell a sleep and have some weird dreams/knightmares...muhahaha :twisted:

Yeah, play this album as loud as you can. The point is to feel the vibrations; as O' Malley once said, they want to give a full body massage.

I've never been too keen on this band, though I must say the overall effect is quite amazing when played at a proper volume (careful with those speakers, though!). I'm curious about this album, I shall check it out when I have the chance. Great reviews once more! ;)

"If there ever would be a list of bands who are being overrated, Sunn O))) will fit this list nicely." (c) Noizz

First of all I do enjoy this type of music and I even enjoy Stephen's work in other bands (Khanate, Thorr's Hammer, Burning Witch), but Sunn O))) for me is just a mediocre copy of Earth.

And Black1, imo, is Sunn O)))'s best release until now. I think it's their most integral and conceptual album (well, concept showed up only starting from White1, but still). Although again it isn't anything special: think of Earth and add some early Abruptum's experiments to it.

I won't lump my album perception with my attitude towards Stephen together, but speaking of O'Malley - he looks like a poseur to me. Revealing that he likes BM with the way Hollywood stars reveal they are homosexual. His music isn't ground-breaking and those news aren't either: today everyone in USA is "into BM" e.g. Rion Lipynsky, Phil Anselmo. And yes, I'm not the one to judge him, just telling what I think.