Sunn O)))

What was begun nearly a decade ago in the short-lived doom group Thorr’s Hammer is now built upon exponentially by Sunn O))). At the core of this noise collective are TH guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, and on their fifth release as Sunn O))) they’ve recruited Melvins/Thrones Joe Preston, ex-Jessamine mates Rex Ritter and Dawn Smithson, and former Mayhem/Tormentor vocalist Attila Csihar for three epic tracks of varied noise deconstruction. The 14-minute "Hell-O)))-Ween” pays the closest tribute to drone lords Earth (of which Preston was once a conspirator) with layered, ultra-down-tuned chords and a palpable, lingering ominousness. Dedicated to Wendy Carlos of the Tron soundtrack fame, the even longer "bassAliens” is a buzzing, popping, static-filled null-space of Merzbow-inspired noise experimentation yet with an underlying melody of darkened guitars. The almost half-hour "Decay2 [Nihils’ Maw]” could easily become background music for the Alien Quadrilogy, until Csihar starts growling/mantric-chanting sections of the ancient Indian text Shrimad Bhagavatam, which the Hare Krishna claim is one of the first written books of mankind and a minimum of 5,000 years old — which is extremely apropos for a musical opus that hearkens from the mandibles of the gods. With White2, Sunn O))) once again substantiate their inchoate prescience for power ambience.