Nearly seven years after their last releases, the Steve Albini-produced companion pieces Life Metal and Pyroclasts, drone metal pioneers Sunn O))) have returned with their 10th album. Titled eponymously and released on Sub Pop—the label behind Earth's seminal 1993 debut Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version—this record marks a deliberate return to the elemental core of their sound. Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson have stripped away their penchant for collaborations with artists like Scott Walker and Merzbow, along with much of the expanded musical palette that characterized recent work.
A Back-to-Basics Approach with Monumental Scale
This album eschews church organs, dulcimers, vocals, and radical reassemblies by collaborators such as Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton. While Glory Black features a brief piano burst and synthesisers are subtly woven into the mix, the focus remains squarely on heavily distorted down-tuned guitars and feedback—the foundational elements since Sunn O)))'s formation in 1998. However, labeling this as a back-to-basics effort should not imply understatement. The album spans nearly 90 minutes, is encased in a sleeve adorned with two Mark Rothko paintings (used with permission from the painter's estate), and boasts between 130 and 180 guitar tracks per song.
Innovative Recording Techniques in Natural Settings
Producer Brad Wood employed a meticulous studio procedure, miking not only the duo's amplifiers but each individual speaker, and setting up what he termed "the world's largest stereo array of room mics" to capture ambient textures. Recorded at Bear Creek Studio in rural Washington, amidst acres of pasture and woods, the album is audibly rooted in its landscape. Unlike Lionel Richie's Dancing on the Ceiling, which was also recorded there, O'Malley and Anderson drew direct inspiration from their surroundings, hiking in the mornings and incorporating the environment into the recording process.
Wood has described opening studio doors and placing microphones in the surrounding landscape, which accounts for natural sounds like streams and birdsong that accompany the seismic bass explosions, such as those two minutes into the opener XXANN. These ambient additions, though minor, recontextualize Sunn O)))'s sound, lending it a sense of escapism and making the music feel more welcoming than forbidding.
An Immersive and Euphoric Listening Experience
Tracks like the feedback-strafed Does Anyone Hear Like Venom? and the 18-minute Mindrolling are overwhelming and transportive, with their absence keenly felt as listeners are deposited back into reality. The album's oddly euphoric effect is highlighted by moments like the constant ebb and flow of Butch's Guns, where immense sound lapses into silence, and the desolate piano interlude on Glory Black, which contrasts sharply with the surrounding guitar sludge. There's a weird punch-the-air quality when the detuned guitars reappear, underscoring the music's cathartic and hypnotic repetitions.
Contextual Relevance in Modern Music Consumption
In an era dominated by streaming platforms that often promote passive consumption and music as background noise, Sunn O))) demands full and undivided attention. This requirement feels particularly laudable in 2026, offering a form of escapism from contemporary challenges. Whether listeners embrace or reject their sound, Sunn O))) cannot be accused of being indistinct or boring—they remain a definitive force in experimental music.
The album also features sleeve notes from nature writer Robert Macfarlane, who quotes figures ranging from the Greek stoic Epictetus to indigenous American environmentalist Robin Wall Kimmerer, further emphasizing the connection to natural and philosophical themes. This release reaffirms Sunn O)))'s status as pioneers, delivering a seismic return to drone metal's elemental core that is both immersive and strangely euphoric.
