Biography
Aethenor, an ambient sludge metal supergroup whose lineup pulls from the deafening American duo Sunn 0))), the British Rock in Opposition-associated act Guapo, and Swiss trance merchants Shora, spans both geographic and stylistic borders. The endeavor originated in 2003 when Sunn 0))) guitarist Stephen O'Malley and Shora keyboardist and electronics mastermind Vincent de Roguin began capturing spontaneous improvisations in hotel rooms and similar spaces while sharing a European tour. Once that tour concluded, de Roguin and O'Malley gathered in Geneva—de Roguin's home base—alongside Guapo's Daniel O'Sullivan, who was also then touring with Sunn 0))), to refine the location recordings into a coherent release. O'Sullivan added Fender Rhodes electric piano, an instrument more closely associated with 1970s jazz fusion than post-millennial avant rock, and percussion; the trio laid down a set of improvisations during a single night and merged them with the earlier material to produce the four-part, half-hour Deep in Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light. O'Sullivan also supplied the album title, drawn from the Iliad, and the band name itself, formed by merging "aether," the ancient Greek notion of the divine realm above the earth, with "Athanor," the mythic alchemists' furnace. Following the 2006 appearance of Deep in Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light on San Francisco indie VHF Records, Aethenor tracked two subsequent albums during an overnight session in Geneva inside an active meat locker, allowing the chill to influence both performers and gear. Betimes Black Cloudmasses, issued in April 2008, includes guest vocals from Ulver's Kristoffer Rygg together with free improv drummers Alex Babel and Nicolas Field across its three lengthy untitled tracks, while the third album, slated for fall 2008, incorporates vocal and instrumental contributions from Current 93's David Tibet.
Albums
