Album Pick of the Week: Sunn 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

In a decade where so much of the musical climate has consisted of revisionist plagiarism and rehashing past sounds, it’s a godsend to be able to hear something truly new and unprecedented. This godsend comes from the revered drone doom duo sunn 0))) who have finally released their seventh and mightiest studio album, Monoliths & Dimensions. This four track, 53 minute album sees the group moving their farthest away from their “drone metal” critic-pigeonhole to something closer to the avant-garde compositions of John Cage or Arvo Part. The epic choral arrangements of “Big Church” and the jazz-laden ballad “Alice” are evidence enough of this growth, while the surging opener “Aghartha” and the near battle anthem of “Hunting & Gathering” should appeal to fans of the group’s previous experiments with tone and time. This record also features the largest number of guests on a sunn 0))) release yet: Hungarian singer Attila Csihar, Earth’s Dylan Carlson, Australian guitarist Oren Ambarchi, violinist Eyvind Kang, and even a Viennese choir are featured. Nothing the band has done before sounds as neither captivating nor as original as Monoliths & Dimensions. Perhaps the band best summed up this album in their own words: “the most musical piece we’ve done, and also the heaviest, powerful and most abstract set of chords we’ve laid to tape.” It is also their best.

Listen To: Big Church, Aghartha, Alice

RIYL: Earth, Catacombs, Arvo Part