The Formative Years - Sunn O)))
I vividly remember the first time I heard about Stephen O’Malley’s new endeavour Sunn O))) and given how much I appreciated what he achieved with Burning Witch and Khanate, I could not wait to check it out.
Upon checking out Sunn O))) first recordings, I was instantaneously intrigued by not only their heavy, slow larva of sound that moved and threatened to swallow you at a glacial pace but also the obvious reference to both the Sunn amplifiers and the pioneers of drone metal, i.e. the band Earth.
Witnessing them channelling their distinct aesthetics dressed in druid robes and shrouded in fog and dry ice in a live environment and experiencing first-hand how they expertly and patiently built their monolithic dropped-A feedback fuelled, distorted low register ambient soundscapes was an occurrence that literally resonated with my inner core due to the high volume that turned the event into an overwhelming, tectonic plate shifting physical experience and confronting endurance testing of your limits, simultaneously depriving the sense while overloading them, resulting in a state reminiscent of a drug or anxiety induced attack.
Ever since, Sunn O))) evolved much more than the mere sum of drone metal, dissonance and noise, it became a genre on itself and a cathartic vibe that I have never felt in that intensity before.
