Review Summary: (((MMMmmmmmmmnnnnnnNNNnmmmmmm)))
Contrary to the simplistic technique, drone is a challenging genre; to engage in at least. Instrument tuning, the general speed or the vocals are really the only thing bands can differentiate in the hope to sound different from other drone bands. What separates Sunn O))) from other bands is the imagery in their music. Their ability to create morbid feelings atop of snail pace strums may only be matched in another unknown dimension.
Currents of feedback unsurprisingly introduce this drone album and immediately a wall of distorted sound is created. Aghartha’s drawn guitar tones from Mr. SOMA gives an impression of impending doom and more prickling notes create a chilling atmosphere. The vocals fit in perfectly with this catastrophic tone. The approach of gurgling out lyrics slower than a broken milk float makes the music just that little more grievous and creaking noises with hallowed horns add to the discomfort to gauge interest for the 17 minute monolith.
Big Church (MegszentségtelenÃ*thetetlenségeskedéseitekért ) meaning ‘For your repeated incapability’s of having been unholified’, violates your mind with odd dynamic patterns. A fluttering female choir is silenced by a riff that keeps on spinning like it’s on an abandoned merry-go-round. A church bell chimes… and the pattern is repeated twice-fold. Another dimension is unearthed, demonic chants from the lungs of hell are echoed cavernously. By the time you’ve figured out how to say that lost Hungarian word, the song is over.
Hunting And Gathering has the fastest moments of the album. Sounding like a typical doom intro the croaking vocals awaken you from a comatose state. Merciless chants and brass instruments establish an atmosphere of satanic majesty shrouded by the slur of guitar. However there’s always a twist to their music. Psychedelia is heard in the background that generates a buzz of disorientation and bewilderment.
The soporific instrumental closer proves to be the best track on the album. Under the dark skies of a full moon night, Alice does arise. It begins with some ripples of guitar that is formed from a singular beat of Greg’s bass. Imagine a dead flower blossoming. Brass rises from the stem and some dissonant synth passages spring out to catch the moonlight. The flower sways in the wind of transcendent ambience that Sunn O))) continue to emit but still firmly rooted to the ground with a constant thrum of guitar. Gentle spikes of synth and acoustic melodies signal the break of dawn and the dreary riffs are resurrected with soothing trumpet that creates a more stirring atmosphere. Ironic how at the end of the album is when it becomes most ‘alive’. Alice is a very therapeutic track, the best way to describe it could be Sunn O)))’s cover of Whale Song or Sounds of the Rainforest, perhaps?
Under your bed, down a shady alleyway and in the darkest corners of your mind are where Sunn O))) reside. Monoliths & Dimensions does not sound like hell- it’s too dark for fiery pits. It sounds like the abysmal limbo between life and death: stuck eternally in infinity.
