CoC : Sunn O))) - OO Void : Review

Sunn O))) - _OO Void_
(Hydra Head, 2000)
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10)

With its four tracks comprising nearly an hour of music, it should not be deeply surprising to learn that _00 Void_ is essentially ambient as an "album". The style of the three originals and re-arranged Melvin's track on offer here centres around a spectacularly low, overdriven bass-line/hum. This is the only constant throughout all the tracks, progressing with treacle-like rhythm and speed -- slow, slow, slow and slower is the name of Sunn's game. If you allow yourself to relax and let this soporific sonic experience wash over and into you -- whether with the help of illicit substances or merely a quiet, dark and focussed atmosphere -- you'll find all sorts of ambient sounds floating about in _OO Void_, subtly hidden beneath a sea of the lowest rumbling bass tones. The effect on your mind can make you hallucinate sounds that aren't or weren't there -- or were they? --, or it can merely set you off into a dream-like state of recollection or vivid imagination. Sonically, if you liked Sleep's _Jerusalem_ or other records of its ilk, then the sloth-like pace of _OO Void_ may very well appeal to you. _OO Void_ is certainly not "normal" or "average", it's more or less a love or hate record -- either you "get it" or you don't -- which seems doubtful to ever be in constant rotation on your stereo, but will no doubt be treasured, even if it be as a novelty, to those who are into its sound.

(article published 13/3/2001)

ALBUMS
10/19/2005	T DePalma	6.5	Sunn O))) - Black One
6/16/2004	X Hoose	6	Sunn O))) - The Libations of Samhain