Amplifiers to Oblivion: Sunn O))) Reclaim Their Drone Throne On Self-Titled Sub Pop Release (ALBUM REVIEW)

The long-running, Seattle, Washington-based drone metal act Sunn O)))))) returns with their first new music in seven years, as their tenth album is a self-titled offering and their first for new label Sub Pop. 

The duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson has been performing for over thirty years, pushing avant-garde metal and noise rock into their ever-droning soundscape. In the past, they have brought in a wide range of collaborators, but for this record, the duo goes it alone. To support this decision, the band has decided to self-title the record, and whenever an established group releases a self-titled album in the middle of their career, it can act as a symbol of rebirth, signal a new direction, go back to roots with a course correction, or simply be one last gasp.  

For the record, O’Malley and Anderson worked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington, and the studio in the woods was inspirational to the duo. Behind the album’s Mark Rothko cover art, their crunching feedback was altered with a few field recordings that were captured during calming nature hikes. This is far from hippie music, though, as they crank the amps to the breaking point, pouring out an unrelenting push-and-pull of sonic amplification.  

The first single from the album is really the core of this duo, if someone is interested in Sunn O))), “Butch’s Guns” is a great place to start. Static then space repeats a few times as the droning, one-note vibrations arrive, then slowly increase the growl. There is a slight screech around the halfway point, alternating with the constant rumble. Around the ten-minute mark, some chords mix in before shifting back to drones at the end, which cut off abruptly after a powerful fourteen minutes.  

Oddly, the record opens with the least interesting track as “XXANN” doesn’t do much, fading into grinding white noise during the almost twenty-minute run time. “Does Anyone Hear Like Venom?” is more nuanced, with interesting dynamics: it trills and stutters with feedback before muscling up and finally cascading.   

When the instrumental artistic music is this repetitive, the magic arrives in the small changes, such as the water flowing behind the crackling, tense vibrations of “Mindrolling”. One excellent addition is the shift in “Glory Black” from a few strummed overdriven notes into a simple piano showcase, before ramping up with the heaviest speaker-shaking power to close the album. 

Sunn O)))’s sound is clearly not for everyone as the drone, feedback levels and repetition is an acquired taste, but for fans of this goosebump raising style, this self-titled effort is a welcomed return, going back to the duo’s roots in confident fashion.