Sunn O)))
The Grimmrobe Demos

I would like to start by posing a question: "Is Drone music? Or is it an alternative form of art?" My question is not rhetorical in the sense that I don't even have a clear idea of what the answer is, and I can imagine what someone might think when reading the word Drone for the first time.

The Drone (in English "vibration") or Drone Doom is a musical genre that many (not me) trace back to Earth, pioneers of a certain Ambient built on very low-frequency notes. The Sunn O))), admittedly inspired by the aforementioned, in my opinion, are infinitely more extreme than their mentor and present a musical genre that I believe is the real, only authentic Drone. The Sunn O))) came to life at the end of the nineties from the mind of Steve O'Malley, a guy with half a dozen active projects among which I remember Khanate and Burning Witch: I still can't fathom how I could have waited so long to review this CD, certainly my favorite of their discography and one of my favorites ever. However, after reviewing Khanate, I feel at least obliged to review this (master)piece as well.

As I was saying, Drone is a musical genre that is based on the very slow repetition of very low notes and generally does not include vocal parts (though the latest Sunn O))) use them) nor rhythmic parts. The objectives are many; to create sounds as dark as possible, to create music as extreme as possible, to create music as slow as possible. In any case, the word "more" is always present, and I realize that precisely that "more" may make the listening experience practically unbearable for the listener (as it once did for me). It's to be considered that the compositions are indeed always longer than ten minutes, and shortly after, always assuming there is no unbearable physical discomfort, boredom sets in; this is for a novice. Those who are already neck-deep with Drone, soon find themselves losing track of the minutes and find themselves at the end of the song thinking they started it just a few moments before. Such is indeed the psychological grip these pieces have on a person who listens with interest and morbid pleasure.

Many assert that the masterpiece of Sunn O))) is "Black One," a recently released album (2005) that keeps the genre's style mostly intact but mixes in some rare melody, which, at least for my personal taste, places it a step below this release, instead dating back to 1998 (but reissued with a Bonus track just in 2005). In truth, this would be the collection of four Demos each composed of one song: "Black Wedding" (masterpiece within the masterpiece), "Defeating Earth's Gravity", "Dylan Carlson", and "Grimm & Bear It". Personally, I find the songs on this CD much more black, evil, and sick than the rest of Sunn-production.

Enough talking about "Black Wedding": almost twenty minutes of noises, a single riff repeated until it provokes a state of confusion, in the background the sounds of sirens, synthesizer screams, whistles. Like waking up one morning to find yourself alone in a completely deserted city or, if you prefer, on a planet with an unbreathable atmosphere, completely in the dark. The volume sometimes goes down, then returns to the original level along with a new chord; another very slow and distorted chord, another abyss opening in the ground, unfathomable.

It is incredible how music like this gives the sensation of denser and heavier air, as if it increased the specific weight of the oxygen you breathe. Personally, it is a sensation that I like very much and which I indulge in a decidedly unhealthy way; I like to remain suspended on a dying chord and wait for the next one as the greatest liberation, as if holding my head underwater until I almost faint only to emerge and breathe with full lungs, having simultaneously the sensation of fainting and of sardonic amazement.

Drone is not music: Drone is noise. Listening to a record like this is like furnishing your home with pieces from a crashed airliner; in other words, these are noises that create a truly disturbing yet grand atmosphere, far beyond human perception.

An hour and ten in the contemplation of the purest Evil, "dancing drunkenly on the edge of the world": the soundtrack of the day after the Apocalypse.