Sunn O))) – 3: Flight Of The Behemoth

Heads up, new splatter variant dropping RSD Black Friday 11/27/20.

Yeah.. lots of clicks and crackle in the first 5-10 minutes of each side.. of the 2020 repress.

Need a rerelease so baaaaaad. This was my first Sunn album when I was in high school the 2 Bow tracks won me over

As an avid listener of Earth and Sunn O))) I found this piece to be more reminiscent of Earth's sound with darker undertones (my opinion of Sunn O)))'s work relative to Earth's in general). This genre transcends music becoming a spiritual and insightful experience. The seamless transition between "Mocking Solemnity" and "Death Becomes You" says more than any lyrics ever could about existence in and of itself. Counterbalanced with the scathing sounds of O)) Bow 1 and 2 the listener is drilled with the sensation of enlightenment through suffering (similar to the experience of listening to artists such as Prurient etc.). Rounded out by FWTBT, this piece concludes as a meditation on the fusion of life and death. Happy to be listening on CD since minimal transition between tracks is recognizable. If your interested in finding the point where peace, bliss, suffering and darkness merge this is for you.

Favorite Track: "Death Becomes You"

Recommended Listening: Earth (Tracks 1 and 2), Prurient (Tracks 3 and 4), Sunn O)))'s Black One

Alright, so for a while now, I have been playing this album, cause I love how it sounds and everything, but, the Bows dont do much for me, They could have easily been left off the album. Maybe its just cause i dont dig Merzbow, but its just fucking not good, maybe if they did a collab with him it would be okay. But eh, they just dont do it for me.

Track 5 is a 'cover' of Metallica's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' that they recorded for a tribute CD (I imagine it was one of those cheap Dwell Records tributes). You have to listen closely to hear the original structure, as Sunn 0))) plays it loose and free.

Get good speakers or you can't appreciate Sunn O))). With their unyielding sub-woofer-crunching, mind-numbing, death-drones, the duo wracks every corner of your mind with their trademark bleak guitar riffs played sustenuto ad nauseum. It is minimal yet effective, beautiful yet unspeakably painful. The sinister power of the Merzbow collaborations on Bow 1 and Bow 2 must be experienced. One has to understand Merzbow aka Masami Akita's involvement with the s/m scene, to understand the intended pain imparted through each hammered note from the prepared piano admist the backdrop of harsh electronics. On Bow 2, the piano goes haywire. As though piano strings were snapped in the playing process, the sound is indubitably altered by Merzbow's mad genius. With the persistent metallic-grinds of Sunn O))) guitars bethrolled to Merzbow's irrepressible death-electronics, one cannot escape the inexorable feeling of death, gloom and doom - over and over and over. It's an artistic/depressing trip waiting to be experienced.

I'm pretty sure that the drums on F.W.T.B.T. are sampled from the first track (Spotter) of The Weakener's "What Do You Know About It?". Although the mentioned release is one of the slowest Illbient-records ever made, Sunn O))) pitched the sample down to make it even slower. Whoa!