SUNN O))) is proud to present their 7th studio album, after 10 years of existence, entitled Monoliths & Dimensions. The album showcases the core guitar duo – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson – incorporating influences from a plethora of guest musicians, bringing the SUNN O))) sound to epic new levels. The band also collaborated with composer Eyvind Kang (notable for his work with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, etc.) on various acoustic ensembles, in addition to the Helios fueled electric guitars and basses. Key players on the album include Australian guitar genius Oren Ambarchi, enigmatic Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor, etc.) and slow music godfather Dylan Carlson (Earth), as well as Julian Priester (worked with Sun Ra in the 50s, John Coltrane’s African Brass band, and Herbie Hancock’s Sextant band) and new-music horn player Stuart Dempster. There’s also an upright bass trio, French & English horns, harp & flute duo, piano, brass, reed & strings ensembles, and a Viennese woman’s choir led by Persian vocal savant Jessika Kenney.
The album is not “SUNN O))) with strings” or “metal meets orchestra” material. The band took an approach concentrating on more of allusion toward the timbre of feedback and the instruments involved, so the piece is really illusory, beautiful and not entirely linear, stating that the end product is “the most musical piece we’ve done, and also the heaviest, powerful and most abstract set of chords we’ve laid to tape”
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Om cuts out all the unnecessary sonic frills, and removes two strings from the aforementioned setup, operating in a bass/drums format. Nevertheless, the music of singer/bassist Al Cisneros (formerly of stoner-metal gods Sleep) and drummer Emil Amos is as raw, loud, and heavy as that of bands with two or three guitarists among their ranks.
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Flyer by Ben Javens