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Rating: Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event to witness in Italy a live performance from such a challenging and fascinating group as Sunn O))), their musical offering, which could be loosely classified as "extreme-drone-doom" (not overlooking the recent captivating "ambient-noise" developments the entity has undergone in recent years), certainly has its circle of enthusiasts, who came to the surface especially after the release of albums of unquestionable (anti)musical value such as "White2" or the latest "Black1".
The first to take the stage are Earth, true pioneers who conceived the drone sound that gradually brought Sunn O))) to prominence; many extracts from the latest "Hex: Or Printing In The Infernal Method" stand out, especially the highly soft and psychedelic versions of "The Land Of Some Other Order," "Lens Of Urectified Night," and "Raiford (The Felon Wind)"... what emerges powerfully from the sonic mix of the band composed of Dylan Carlson and Adrienne Davis, well-supported by a second guitar and a trumpet, is the constant quest for improvisation. Many tracks compared to the album versions are transformed into genuine jammy deliriums, at times more acidic and at times more visionary, the only common thread of the performance is the obsessive search for slowness aimed at transcending the listener into an almost mystical ecstasy with highly ascetic rigor... the western and southern atmosphere contained in their latest excellent album (the fifth official of their career) is somewhat sacrificed, but in the end, no harm done... The Seattle band delivers an excellent and deeply intense performance... Stage change... The first to come up is the guru Stephen O'Malley engaged in a sort of solo sound-check... Already from the first (very low) notes, there is the sense that this won't be a normal concert, as the band's offering naturally might suggest... After a few moments of waiting, they all reappear together... all hooded in monk robes... besides O'Malley, there's a second guitar (probably the other mastermind of the group, Greg Anderson), the bass (perhaps a session man, certainly not Joe Preston, who participated in the making of White2), and another in charge of a Moog-synth-keyboard... as a prelude to the real concert, the first notes from the intro of the latest Black1, Sin Nanna, are immediately recognizable, until they decide to plug the jacks into the amplifiers and begin (not) playing.
An interminable slow riff is repeated to exhaustion, at times it's hard to even discern the tempo, (to us humans) at first glance, it may seem just a sequence of nauseating feedback blasted at irresponsible volumes... but, watching the theatricality of the show offered, and its protagonists, it's almost like witnessing a highly sacred and religious rite... where the bassist moves like a grand priest and master of ceremonies, while the others appear almost as the material executors of the rite (in this case, it should be referred to as a crime, against music), we watch petrified (frightened?) and fascinated by the unfolding event, my sensation (and also of some others present) is that the band almost invites the spectators to enter their world, they seemed like people from an "OTHER" world completely captivated by their heavy drug synthesized into music, by their enormous drone riffs... nearly making them appear in another environment so far removed from ours, as if the people witnessing their slow ceremony were outside their (hallucinated) visual sphere... Suddenly, after the narcoleptic and petrifying opening of the concert, the singer who participated in the recordings of the latest Black1, one Malefic, enters the scene, and the name, despite not being very original (indeed), says it all about the characteristics of such a person. Also clad but not hooded, a more malevolent version of Brandon Lee's crow, I would dare say, who immediately starts barking incomprehensible stuff (surely not thanking the audience for turnout), while the others behind resume (not that they ever stopped, to be truthful) collapsing the Sunn amp wall (occasionally switching places and drinking what seems to be bottles of red wine, or perhaps some other type of particular beverage, suitable for contemplation and propagation of the rite in the room), so much that my ears buzzed for quite a while (both during and after the concert)... surely the track presented was taken from the latest album, even if to be honest, either it was stretched out extensively (it lasted a good three-quarters of an hour) or some pieces were blended together and presented in a single unending flow of nihilistic vibrations, where besides the riffs prolonged to the psychic overdose of the present (with high noisy and shrill tone excursions, of the O'Malley brand) is annihilating due to the inhuman screams of said Malefic, who despite everything, seemed quite calm on stage (apart from certain moments when he would let the microphone cord dangle repeatedly almost as if to represent that everything was a kind of procession in the name of the God Of Evil)... Suddenly (still shaken by the black sea we've fallen back into from almost an hour now), Malefic decides to exit the scene, almost as he entered, that is suddenly... almost as if the conclusion of the performance of the rite was solely up to the instruments... indeed, the volumes rise even more, this goes hand in hand with the increased theatricality of the show... indeed, almost suddenly the second guitarist (Greg Anderson?) collapses to the ground as if pushed down by the screaming feedback tide... while the others chant their odes towards the Sunn amp wall and their immense sound, raising their instruments to the sky before then laying them onto them, until one last interminable rumble will make the internal organs of those present vibrate for a very lOOOOO)))ng time... what else to add?
Definitely the most extreme show I've ever had the chance to witness... absolutely unmissable, chilling, and one I'll hardly forget... For those who have finished reading this (endless, like the sound flow of Sunn, of course), I naturally hope you've gone to see at least one date of the tour in Italy of this band... (4 dates in all: Turin, Florence, Milan, and Ravenna)... because saints are granted only one chance to ascend to paradise... (O'Malley's paradise, naturally, made of drugs taken in and drugs propagated through amps)...
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