Send "Sunn O))) " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Spin |
 Well known as purveyors of viscous guitar sludge, the duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson expand their ambitions and make some startling jazz-ensemble noises on their seventh album. Monoliths & Dimensions not only features previous collaborators like Hungarian growler Attila Csihar and Australian experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi, but also new ones like Sun Ra's old reedman Julius Priester. On "Aghartha," Sunn O)))'s tar pits now bubble with atonal strings and eerie brass, while "Alice" (named after John Coltrane's widow) inverts all expectations; negative space infuses their pulverizing tendencies, revealing that light is the new heavy....full text |
| Blogspot |
| For those in the know, "Sunn O)))" brings up a lot of imagery: black cloaks, shiny Les Pauls, fog machines, a wall of amplifiers. True showmen, those guys. Last year, the band gave us a glimpse of their live antics with Dømkirke, but it's been almost five years since we've heard them tear it up in the studio with a full-length. 2005's Black One was a change of pace with its shorter song lengths, but Sunn O))) is getting back to long, demonic meditations on Monoliths & Dimensions. First and foremost, Sunn O))) is a project of sound experimentation, and they wouldn't be putting out a new LP unless they were venturing into unknown territory. What's surprising is the group of musicians they're leading into the abyss on Monoliths. Distorted guitars and Attila Csihar's cold coffin croons are a few familiar sounds, but horns, strings, and upright basses color some of this LP's darkest moments, too....full text |
| Pitchfork |
| If your interest in Sunn O))) stems primarily from the band's patient employment of tone and time as channeled through electric bass, electric guitar, and stacks of amplifiers, you might hate "Alice", the brilliant closing track of its seventh and arguably best album, Monoliths & Dimensions. Sure, these 17 minutes are loud and torpid, easing from one note to another, distortion dripping from each new intonation. But "Alice" finds Sunn O))) exploiting a newfound spaciousness and elegance. As its founders, Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, crawl across a loose blues progression that mirrors those of slow metal fountainhead Earth, a swell of French and English horns, violin and viola, harp and light percussion rises. Surrounding the guitars, they're like the perfect summer haze, refracting and softening the season's relentless sunlight. "Alice" ends with a fanfare of sorts for this small orchestra. Its long tones are light and lifting, a little like Stars of the Lid commissioning Igor Stravinsky. More Fluorescent One than Black Two, it's completely unexpected, mesmerizing, and beautiful. ...full text |
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))_Meets_Nurse_with_Wound_The_Iron_Soul_of_Nothing_09.01.2012.jpg "Sunn O))) - The Iron Soul of Nothing review")
