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Sunn O))), "00 Void"
The series of deluxe Japanese reissues of Sunn O)))'s oeuvre has peaked with this version of one of the group's finest moments. Long and undeservedly out of print, this early album has had its original vinyl artwork restored (the less than stellar art from the original CD has been relegated to an inner sleeve) and has been supplemented with a reworking of the album by Nurse With Wound. Reissue packages rarely look and sound so good.
When I heard this album (a dual purchase with their subsequent album, Flight of the Behemoth, when on vacation in Vienna), I was initially disappointed. In the following years I have grown to love it and as such I had no qualms about buying it again. With their White albums and Black One Sunn O))) would expand their sonic palette with nods to the avant garde and extreme metal but here they sounded pure and powerful, more monster than rock band. The stripped down line up compared to later incarnations of the group allow the guitar and bass space to breathe, making it possible to hear all the dissonances and rumbles properly.
Opening with one of the heaviest pieces Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson have ever done, "Richard," it is hard not to be taken aback by the singularity of their guitar and amp assault. The riffs are chunkier than on the more primitive Grimmrobe Demos album, the hypnotic gravitational pull of "Rabbits' Revenge" sucks in air rather than push it from the speakers. The Melvins sample in the middle of it is so completely out of place as to be disorientating; the Melvins sound like speed metal compared to these geological tempos.
Although it is credited as a remix of 00 Void, The Iron Soul of Nothing sounds nothing like the original album. Steven Stapleton has disintegrated the chest pummelling riffs into a far less muscular but still threatening ambience. Distant melodies during "Dysnystaxis" evoke the dreamy not-quite-slumber of the piece's title. The deep night of 00 Void has given way to a daybreak both glorious and terrible. "Ra at Dawn" is light years away from the original "Ra at Dusk." The brooding drones create an unsettling and queasy mood; it feels like the sun god Ra will not be rising today.
Overall, considering the scarcity of the original CD release of 00 Void and the sheer quality of the bonus disc, this package is well worth hunting down and paying import prices for. Those new to Sunn O))) could do far worse than to get this and hear how they were before so many collaborators jumped on board to push the sound in different directions (not that I'm complaining about this, just the later recordings never seem quite so primal).
samples:
- Richard
- Ra at Dusk
- Dysnystaxis (Nurse With Wound remix)
