Sunn O))) - ØØ Void

 

Is that enough "insert symbol"-type symbols for ya? I know I'm all set.

Sunn O)))'s second album, ØØ Void,  originally released in 2000, has been reissued...!

Quick, Robin-- to the review!

Track one, "Richard" is intestinal rumbling as a mantra, from the bowels of the Earth, using (cause it don't need no drums; in terms of drums, Sunn O))) ain't care!) what may or may not be a synthesizer as what effectively works as a "count," the way a drummer would use a ride symbol or hi-hat to most obviously count time... at around 8:00 a sitar or bagpipes enters, and not incongruously.

Track two, "NN O)))" (I said I was all set with the symbols!) is the most obvious use, as is the whole album really, of Sunn O)))'s modus operandi (which they expanded upon stylistically with later albums, adding textures, tones, timbres, all the Ts really-- whereas this is pretty much as stripped down and simple as heavy music gets):

The glory of SOUND (i.e., not specific notes) for its own sake: sound for its purely physical effects (and not intellectual ones, that might be concerned with, say, lyrical content or melody)--

--and with lots of space to think.

Music that breathes so slowly you might forget it's breathing-- like a blue whale that only needs 5-10 heartbeats a minute to maintain its bulk, that of the largest animal thought to have ever existed on the planet.... Yeah. That simile totally works.

Track three, "Rabbits' Revenge" (if their punctuation is deliberate, there are several members of the Lepus family taking vengeance, a scary thought) opens as a bass pulse under some guitar feedback's skin-- a massive, breathing (there's that adjective-sometime-gerund again) sonic organism... this track is like the constant bending of a cane reed into the correct pitch-- then made massively monolithic.

Alliteration free of charge. Horn's here to help.  That second alliteration? Gratis as well!

Final track (and in my opeez the best), "Ra at Dusk," synesthesia-stically speaking, has a "monochrome" texture; one chugging guitar acts as the count here while another plays a simple recurring dirge-like ostinado... and again all the percussion instruments are effectively some type of guitar.

ØØ Void might be a great introdution to Sunn O))) if you're not familar with them-- there's no curveballs here. It makes Dopesmoker sound like Paganini. If you already like/ love them, then this one'll be easy to digest and will go down smooth.

Quick Robin-- to the Batgirl!

--Horn