LET THERE BE DRONE
All Hail Life Metal
Conceptualised and formed in March 1998 Sunn O))) have been challenging the ways we think about music in the twenty years since. A synthesis of drone, metal, minimalism and maximalism verging on pure sonic ecstasy. They induce meditative trance states in the listener through the power, beauty and colour of sound pressure emanating from their legendary backline of valve amplification and their Earth shaking tectonic compositions of existence, dedicated to the mysteries of life and the cosmos.
Sunn O))) has two core members and co-founders, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, supported by a tribe of collaborators. From 1999’s The Grimmrobe Demos to 2018’s Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape; from their now classic albums Black One (2006), Monoliths & Dimensions (2009), Soused (2014) & Kannon (2015) to their forthcoming 2019 epic album Life Metal & its shadow Pyroclasts, O’Malley and Anderson have forged paths and connections between the worlds of metal, contemporary art, drone, new music, jazz and minimalism with startling results while remaining true to the eternal principles of volume, density, elasticity of time, blossoming of saturation viable only to the disciples and fetishists of electric guitar, synthesis, multiple gain stages and some of history’s greatest pure valve amplification.
The current concert line-up extends around power trio of Stephen O’Malley (Guitar), Greg Anderson (Guitar), and their valve guru and long time collaborator Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog), alongside invited special guests. Together they relentlessly pursue their exploration and elaboration of Sunn O)))’s legendary experiments with the physicality of sound in instrumental based live performances with remarkable events at some of their favourite venues, as well as concerts as part of singular events and in unique spaces such as Italy’s impressive cultural complex Labrinto Della Masone, Germany’s Ruhrtriennale Festival of Arts, Royal Festival Hall & The Barbican in London, Bergen’s Dømkirke and Manchester International Festival being a few emblematic examples.
Rejoin them in their glorious pursuit of the monumental heaviness.
-Etienne Ni Mhaille, 2018
Listen!