One of the latest Sunn 0))) incarnations goes by the name of Pentemple - an unholy alliance between the usual Sunn 0))) boys (Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson), ambient artist Oren Ambarchi, and black metal visionaries Attila Csihar and Sin Nanna (AKA Striborg). The Southern Lord website called the limited CD, an improvised live collaboration in Melbourne, Australia, a "blackened low-end psychedelic war," so I had no choice but to order a copy.
The result is a little more freeform than I expected (only because this is one of the very few times Sunn 0))) has performed with drums) and a little less guitar-oriented than I had hoped for considering the fact that O'Malley, Anderson, and Ambarchi all contributed guitar to the project in some form. Knowing how the collaboration with Boris turned out, I was expecting something more focused, but I should know better by now than to have preconceived notions when it comes to Sunn 0))). Regardless, the album is spine-tingling to the extreme and one of the more interesting Southern Lord releases in recent memory. Above the prerequisite layers of rumbling, unrelenting drones are vocals ranging from ethereal chants to black metal screeches, beyond spastic drumming, and analog synth squelches. The album is split into two tectonic twenty-minute-or-so movements, "Pazuzu 1" and "Pazuzu 2."
The opening moments of "Pazuzu 1" hit me in the gut every time: layers of sinister, earth-moving drone matched with some of the most haunting vocals I've ever heard. When the drums do kick in after about seven minutes, they are all over the place. Think of the drums in the first part of "Etna" on the collaboration with Boris, but taken up a notch in terms of intensity and for a much longer period of time. However, that is where the similarities end between the two albums. The drumming sounds pretty cool at first, but after it stretches on for several minutes, I could see the possibility of it becoming headache inducing. That never discourages me from finishing the rest of the track, though, because the drums do eventually calm down a bit and the hypnotic, occult atmosphere only grows stronger.
The drums on "Pazuzu 2" have a more distinguishable groove and the signature Sunn 0))) guitar sound is a little more prominent, whereas on "Pazuzu 1" it was more of an obscure backdrop for all of the other madness that transpired. "Pazuzu 2" also has more of the menacing black metal vocals you would expect considering who was involved.
I knew this album was worth the money the first time I popped it in, cranked up the bass (being a black metal enthusiast, this is one of the only bands I will do so for), and got goosebumps. This kind of album is soothing yet cathartic, and after the forty minutes or so it takes to listen to the whole thing, I feel like the sound waves have penetrated the deepest recesses of my psyche. This album could be the soundtrack to a shamanic initiation... grim, uncompromising, and timeless yet somehow archaic. I am jealous of the one-hundred-and-fifty lucky individuals who got to experience Pentemple live - a most unholy "meeting of the minds."
