Sunn O))) - Black One

Black One. Fuckin' right it is. This is not mere black metal, my friends, this is a terrifying journey into outer reaches of hell without even the slightest glimpse of hope or light coming in to save you from it all. This is as cold and bleak as it gets. After the first couple of tracks, you'll be scared. After about half an hour as the sound has slowly enveloped you, it becomes emotionally damaging. Just picture a baby seal getting clubbed to death or a dog screeching as its skin is being slowly boiled off and you might get some picture of how this might sound. In the words of the immortal Pinhead from Hellraiser, this will TEEEAAARRR YOOUURR SOOOUULLL APAAAAAART!!!!

My first introduction to Sunn O))) was the collaboration with BORIS called ALTAR. That was good too, but by no means either band's best output. This was my first "real" introduction to Sunn O))) and I still think it's their best and if you only pick up one album by them, this should be it. So far, I've heard this, White 2 (which is also great), Flight of the Behemoth and Oracle. I've only listened to Flight of the Behemoth once and I think that one's gonna have to grow on me. This is not stuff to listen to breakfast to, so I doubt it'll be frequenting my CD player. It's more like one of those albums you dig out once every few months and revel in it's darkness and ponder about life itself. But Black One is different. Despite being as punishing as it is, there's also something about it that brings me back for repeated listenings quite often.

I haven't heard the Grimmrobe demos or White 1 yet, but I heard Grimmrobes is not really worth picking up so I'll probably leave that one.

I don't consider myself a big fan of doom, I just like a few of the bands. There are so many bands it's impossible to listen to everything, and I'm into so many more kinds of music. Anyway, if I listened to nothing but doom and black metal, I might start growing claws. But I've recently been getting into these guys, Khanate, Burning Witch, Boris, Beherit and a few other bands of this genre.

Also check out the recent BORIS/MERZBOW - Rock Dream, and KHANATE's "Things Viral" both of which I will probably review shortly.