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Scott Walker & Sunn O))), "Soused"
I am not an especially devout Scott Walker fan, as I tend to admire his vision and fearlessness far more than I actually enjoy listening to his albums, but I was definitely very curious to hear how this completely unexpected collaboration would turn out: such a union seemed certain to be both unpredictable and unique at the very least.  Upon finally hearing Soused, however, I am a bit surprised by the early wave of stellar reviews it has received thus far, as it seems like Sunn O)))'s presence is often unnecessary or squandered (or both).  Walker, for his part, certainly provides more of the quavering, deranged catharsis that I have grown to expect from him, but the underlying music is sometimes less than compelling. Although not a failure by any means (it gets much better near the end), much of this effort feels like less than the sum of its parts (though it is still an absolute monster by non-"Scott Walker" standards).
Amusingly, my disappointment with Soused crests very quickly–within the first minute, to be precise.  To my ears, "Brando" opens the album in supremely cringe-worthy fashion, with Walker belting out lines "O, the wide Missouri!" like the most over-the-top Broadway singer in the world while Stephen O'Malley unleashes some lead guitar that sounds like it was ripped straight from a Toto or Styx album.  That is the album's (playfully intentional?) nadir, but after some nicely jarring, stuttering guitar stabs, Sunn O))) then settle into sustaining a single, distorted power chord like the world's laziest Sunn O))) tribute band.  Thankfully, the piece gradually acquires whip cracks, menacingly dissonant synths, crackling and sputtering industrial textures, eerie whines, and a howling tortured saxophone.  Also, Scott starts creepily intoning that a beating would do him a world of good and the piece successfully transforms from near-camp theatricality and rote doom metal to a beautifully executed nightmare by its end.  It was definitely a rocky start though.
However, that first minute illustrates Soused's primary shortcoming quite succinctly: Sunn O))) are basically around to sound like the Sunn O))) from 15 years ago rather than the more adventurous and forward-thinking band that made Monoliths & Dimensions.  That unfortunate trend returns again in the 12-minute "Harrod 2014," but thankfully sans any cloying Toto-isms or show tune theatrics.  Again, it is another fine piece, but would probably be just as haunting if O'Malley and Greg Anderson had stayed home that day, as all the best parts occur when the doom-drone guitars are drowned out or pushed away by dissonant synth or grinding industrial noise (or..uh…horns mimicking elephants).  I should note that this situation is not entirely Sunn O)))'s fault, as Walker and engineer Peter Walsh sent them a demo with the album more or less entirely composed and their role was primarily to transform the synthesizer parts into Sunn O))) parts.  Since Scott wanted to make a droning anti-epic, that necessarily translated into a lot of Greg and Stephen sustaining sludgy chords in front of their wall of amps.
Fortunately, Soused is not entirely Sunn-by-numbers, as the duo get to unleash some surprises in "Fetish," one of the album's most varied and gripping pieces.  Opening with no accompaniment at all other an array of ominous machine noises, it unexpectedly erupts into a weird groove featuring chorus-heavy bass and some shakers before exploding into an even more unexpected bludgeoning doom metal freak-out.  Then there is some jarringly out-of-tune strumming in the aftermath to boot.  The equally compelling "Lullaby" closes the album with almost no recognizable Sunn-style guitar at all, aside from some buried bass throb.  I think O'Malley keeps himself busy with creaking, clunking atmospherics and swells though.  In any case, it is one of the album's most striking and enigmatic pieces, as it simultaneously features tormented horn howls, Elizabethan nursery rhyme-isms ("hey nonny nonny!" and "lullaby-la-la!"), and a characteristically unsettling and impenetrable narrative ("tonight my assistant will pass among you…his cap will be empty").  Notably, "Lullaby" was composed much earlier than the rest of the album, as Walker wrote it for Ute Lemper's Punishing Kiss album (2000).  Both versions are scary.
My only real problem with Soused, I suppose, is that it failed to meet my expectations, which I suppose it my own fault for having them in the first place.  And that might even be perversely intentional on Walker's part, as he has stated that these songs are all about frustration and failure, which certainly informed his song structures.  Still, I would love to someday hear a legitimate collaboration between these two artists, even though it that seems truly unlikely given Scott's perfectionism (though he was almost involved in Monoliths & Dimensions).  Sunn O))) just seem woefully underutilized here, as even their elemental power seems muted.  I would also love to hear the Sunn O)))-less demo for this album someday, as I think Walker's twisted gallery of horror (lepers, imperiled babies, beatings, quilts of corpses, etc.) would be even more disturbing without the anachronistic grounding of a rock band playing standard rock chords beneath it.  In any case, however, Walker remains a mad genius.  Soused is not easy listening by any means, but it delivers roughly the same caliber of unhinged, Bosch-ian gut punch as either The Drift or Bish Bosch, so those looking to blacken their days by plunging themselves into another man's obsessive nightmare world will find themselves amply rewarded yet again.
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