Sunn O))) are an undeniably rebellious, conceptually difficult and audibly tenacious band. In a decade of nu-metal and retro-rock, Sunn O))) find themselves pushing the envelope of heavy music, with their grinding, droning, rythymless two-man assault. Since the early audio experiments of the White1 and White2 series, the band have taken their knack for suffocating atonal music and ground it to a fine point.
Last year's Black One album was a highlight of the bands career, a jagged and bruising hour of claustrophobic doom metal which was nearly impossible to listen all the way through, and brought Sunn O))) further into the public concious.
A live album (nor, for that matter, a 5.1 mixed live DVD) could never really do justice to the weight of a Sunn O))) Concert (which guitarist Steven O'mally aptly describes as 'experiments in sound pressure'). However, what La Mort Noir En Esch Alzette does manage to do is take the newer, more chaotic Sunn O))) sound found on Black One and put it in the context in which it is most-effective. La Mort Noir is a tone-perfect live performance which in every way captures and magnifies the malicious core of the Sunn O))) project and places it into a communicative experience more than a prepared studio album.
The album itself starts as subtly as one could expect a Sunn O))) live album to start: a moment of feedback hangs in the air, before a sudden, brutal, guitar note begins. That note, in various forms, remains for the next hour in incarnations ranging from a bilous 10 bpm riff on Hallow-Cave, to a weeping feedback in Reptile Lux. The bass, also, is noteworthy on this album: its a good 7 or 8 minutes before any real bass tones appear on the album, but the first time they do it's like stepping directly into the middle of the show: what was at first a sheet of guitar is now a three-dimensional tonality experiment, complete with stomach-wrenching low end.
While some of the finer moments for Black One came with the addition of a vocalist, no voices are present on this cd. This in itself is a dividing factor amongst Sunn O))) fans. While many have argued that Black One was a step forward and the return to instrumentalism is a step backwards, i personally feel that the lack of voices on the album allows the message to be clearer: The music can speak for itself, and does so relentlessly.
While most of the music can be chalked up to improvisation here, with no discernible time signatures or song structures available, it is impossible not to call this live album impressive. Taken out of the studio, Sunn O))) releases an extra dimension to their wall of sound.
Easily one of the best live albums ever recorded, and a good sign that Sunn O))) are going from strength to strength with no intention of looking back. Not for the weak-hearted, but a punishing and breathtaking experience for those who can bear it. A must for any fans of the band or of metal period.
*****
5 stars
