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Sunn O))) & Pan Sonic/Alan Vega/Stephen Burroughs, "Che/Thirteen Crosses/Goodbye Darling"
The latest instalment in Blast First Petit's ongoing 10" series in honor of Alan Vega’s 70th birthday sees Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley team up with Pan Sonic’s Mika Vainio for a killer Suicide cover. Also included is a rare outing by Head of David’s Stephen Burroughs and a new live track by Alan Vega himself.
Sunn O))) and Pan Sonic’s version of “Che” from Suicide’s classic self-titled album is a surprisingly straight cover of the song. Based on Sunn O)))’s previous “covers” like their reinvention of Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” on Flight of the Behemoth, I was expecting an almost unrecognizable mass of guitar noise but they have kept “Che” in an instantly familiar form. Joe Preston does a mean vocal as Sunn O))) create a powerful guitar-led interpretation of the original’s organ riff. Vainio adds a layer of electronic grit to the piece, finishing off an already perfect cover.
On the flip side is an unreleased original from Vega, “Thirteen Crosses,” which was recorded live last year. I have never had a huge interest in Vega aside from the older Suicide material and this song is not begging me to investigate his recent work further. The snarls by numbers piece could be by any number of Suicide imitators and as such is a letdown considering this is actually Vega himself doing it. This is followed by an acoustic rendition of “Goodbye Darling” by Burroughs. Although not a stellar performance, it is a competent and slightly unsettling take on this song with more echoes of Michael Gira than of Alan Vega.
Hardcore fans of Suicide have probably already got their hands on this EP but I would call this essential listening for Sunn O))) lovers as this is one of their better excursions outside of their full lengths.
