sunn O)))

Formed by guitarists Stephen O'Malley of Khanate and Burning Witch together with Greg Anderson of Goatsnake and Thorr's Hammer, the duo Sunn 0))) — pronounced Sun — applies the self-chosen tag power ambient to its output. Its drone-laden fusion of black metal, dark ambient, and slowly unfolding low-tuned noise earns the description minimal maximalism from listeners and reviewers alike, while shaping an entire wave of post-metal acts that stretches from Pelican and Locrian to Boris and Mono. Onstage, the pair’s hooded and robed presence supplies a stark, brooding counterpoint to banks of smoke machines and punishing volume levels. Although the Grimm Robe Demos and 00 Void introduced their vertebrae-shifting drones to audiences beginning in 2000, worldwide recognition arrived only with 2004’s Black One, which featured guest vocalist Attila Csihar. From that point forward the pair has issued recordings at irregular intervals while each pursues numerous side projects, among them duties at the Southern Lord label. Sunn 0))) has also become recognized for joint ventures, co-releasing Altar with Boris in 2006, Terrestrials with Ulver in 2014, and Soused with Scott Walker the same year. In 2019 the duo delivered Life Metal, its first album captured straight to analog tape under engineer Steve Albini.

The group drew inspiration from the early recordings of the Melvins and Earth, the latter also supplying titles for several compositions; Sunn 0))) originated in Los Angeles as an Earth tribute act and initially performed under the name Mars. Its core template of droning guitars, feedback, distorted bass, and assorted sonic treatments was established across the first two releases, The Grimmrobe Demos — tracked in 1998 yet issued only in 2000 — and 00 Void, both appearing on the Hydra Head subsidiary Double H Noise Industries. In 1998 O’Malley and Anderson established the experimental doom metal imprint Southern Lord, which later issued albums by Sunn 0))), Earth, Goatsnake, and Khanate as well as early works by black metal newcomers such as Wolves in the Throne Room and Striborg. The band’s third album and first for Southern Lord, Flight of the Behemoth, surfaced in 2002 and introduced limited percussion plus occasional vocals, a direction extended on 2003’s White1 and 2004’s White2. Black One followed the next year with a palette that evoked the group’s earliest material yet incorporated a pronounced electronic component, while 2006’s Altar documented the partnership with Japanese doom unit Boris.

The live double album Dømkirke appeared in 2008, succeeded the following year by the expansive Monoliths and Dimensions, which incorporated a Viennese women’s choir and French horns among its elements. In 2011 the limited-edition Agharti Live 09-10 was released, followed by the collaborative The Iron Soul of Nothing with Nurse with Wound. During 2014 the band joined Norwegian collective Ulver for Terrestrials, issued that February, and also completed the full-length Soused with Scott Walker, which arrived in October. Sunn 0))) subsequently announced Kannon, a three-part conceptual album titled after the Buddhist deity of mercy, the bodhisattva “who perceives and hears the cries of the world.” Co-produced by the band and Randall Dunn, the record enlisted longtime associates including Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, and Steve Moore, and carried a liner essay by critical theorist Aliza Shvartz exploring the spiritual and cultural ideas tied to its subject; Southern Lord scheduled the release for early December 2015.

O’Malley and Anderson toured in support before turning to separate endeavors. Late in 2018 they reconvened at a studio with engineer Steve Albini and additional contributors — Hildur Guðnadóttir of Iceland’s Múm, composer and organist Anthony Pateras, and Silkworm co-founder Tim Midyett on bass and baritone guitar. Capturing directly to analog tape for the first time, they completed Life Metal, issued in April 2019, along with the parallel, more meditative Pyroclasts slated for autumn.