Sunn O))) Monoliths and Dimensions

Sunn O))) Monoliths And Dimensions on Limited Edition 2LP

Sunn O)))'s seventh studio album, 2009's Monoliths & Dimensions, showcases the core guitar duo, Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, incorporating influences from a plethora of guest musicians, bringing the Sunn O))) sound to epic new levels in the process. The band also collaborated with composer Eyvind Kang (notable for his work with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell) on various acoustic ensembles, in addition to the Helios-fueled electric guitars and basses.

Key players on the album include Australian guitar genius Oren Ambarchi, enigmatic Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor), and slow music godfather Dylan Carlson (Earth), as well as a brass section: Steve Moore (Earth), Julian Priester (worked with Sun Ra in the '50s, John Coltrane's African Brass band, and Herbie Hancock's Sextant band), and new-music horn player Stuart Dempster. There's also an upright bass trio, French & English horns, harp & flute duo, piano, reed & strings ensembles, and a Viennese woman's choir led by Persian vocal savant Jessika Kenney.

However, the album is not "Sunn O))) with strings" or "metal meets orchestra" material. The band took an approach concentrating on more of allusion toward the timbre of feedback and the instruments involved, so the piece is illusory, beautiful, and alinear, with an end product that the group says is "the most musical piece we've done, and also the heaviest, powerful and most abstract set of chords we've laid to tape" The album was recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn and Mell Dettmer.