Mountains and Rubiks cubes

Today, kids, our special disc is disc # 64 on our list, Sunn O))) record Monoliths & Dimensions (Metascore = 88). There are four songs on this record. 4. Four. The average time per song for the album is 13 minutes and 24 seconds. Sunn O))) is actually named after the amplifier brand. There are two primary members—Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson (yes, they’re an American band). They are an extreme gimmick band. Think about England circa King Arthur times where there are witches and warlocks and other grim folks scattered throughout. Think about what they would wear.

“Aghartha” – “Aghartha” starts out as just noise. I think it’s a synthesizer or something playing these loud, low-end notes. Oddly, maybe even intentionally, the sounds of the song reflect the name of the album, Monoliths & Dimensions. Finally, nearly six minutes in there are spoken words. I don’t know what he’s saying. Upon further research (thank you, Wikipedia!), the two primary band members will de-tune their guitars as low as drop-A, which is ridiculous.

So, my initial reaction is “what the hell is this?” But having done a little research, I am a bit intrigued. I wonder what influenced the gimmick. I could totally associate the music with the gimmick. Whether or not you could convince me to see them live, I don’t know.

“Big Church (some other words I don’t want to spell)” – Definitely different from “Aghartha”. Some slight chanting from a female choir. Still the low, droning noise from the guitars, but then the choir continues with another guitar (playing at a much higher register). Another aside—it’s almost as if they are trying to achieve the brown sound. Seriously. Actually, I wonder if this would work for the Harry Potter soundtracks, particularly with Voldemort scenes. That could make for some interesting stuff.

“Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)” – The sounds from this seem to be death metal-meets-western. Not as heavy as the first one, not as light (?) as the second one. According to Wikipedia, there music has been associated with the doom metal movement. Supposedly Black Sabbath is credited with planting the seed for doom metal. The genre has been carried forward by bands with colorful names such as Pagan Altar, Pentagram, and Candlemass. There are absolutely no drums in these songs.

“Alice” – The final song, this one is the most pleasant of them all. Plenty (for Sunn) of instruments, including horns. The sound is just good. The low tones are not overdone. This is probably my favorite song of the album. I believe there are even harps towards the end (4 minutes left).

How did they receive an 88 score? I’m sure drone metal magazine appreciated it, and from a purely free form perspective, it wasn’t bad. But I’m not sure I would say it’s better than the xx album or even the Streets album. I guess I need a little more insight as to why critics praised it like they did. Maybe I don't get it.