Life Metal

by 
AlbumApr 26 / 20194 songs, 1h 8m 56s98%
Drone Metal
Popular Highly Rated

On their eighth studio album, Sunn O))) wanted to take their signature drone metal back to its most minimalist form. During the past decade, the Stephen O’Malley- and Greg Anderson-led unit ventured into a series of collaborations—with artists ranging from Norwegian experimental collective Ulver to the late singer/composer/producer Scott Walker—before releasing 2015’s *Kannon*, which incorporated death-metal growls into their guitar assaults. For *Life Metal*, the band hired studio veteran Steve Albini—whose recordings distill a band\'s bare essence—to capture their expansive, amplified noise live to tape. “Troubled Air” is mired in their typically impenetrable feedback, though a gleaming pipe organ (arranged by Australian composer Anthony Pateras) faintly clears the darkness toward the song’s end. The lumbering “Between Sleipnir’s Breaths”—inspired by the creature from Norse mythology—plays like an orchestral piece, contrasting trenchant dissonance with Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s ghostly vocals. Simplicity is at the core of these four lengthy tracks, but those unexpected elements—and O’Malley and Anderson\'s broader palette of sounds in general—add a newfound depth to the band\'s arsenal.

96k/24bit AAD master

8.4 / 10

The titanic drone metal duo returns with Steve Albini for an enormous, meticulous, back-to-basics album that shows just how compelling those basics can be.

7 / 10

8 / 10

This is the most complete work from the drone overlords since the now-classic Monoliths & Dimensions

4 / 5

U.S. drone masters Sunn O))) shine on oddly uplifting eighth album, Life Metal

But enlisting Steve Albini as producer on Life Metal changes the equation.

9 / 10

If one ever needed proof of the old adage "less is more," they need look no further than Sunn O))). Over the course of 20 years, the foundin...

7 / 10

9 / 10

Elliot Paisley reviews the new album from drone legends Sunn O))). Read his review of Life Metal here on Distorted Sound!

8 / 10

Seattle droners Sunn O))) go back to basics with an album of refreshed doom on Life Metal, an origin story with a goofy title.

2.5 / 5

A double review of Life Metal by Sunn O))), available April 19th worldwide via Southern Lord Recordings.

6 / 10

The memory of Earth circa 1993-1996 spawned Sunn O))) whose tribute so transcended that point of origin that it would birth the entire genre of drone...

85 %

Album Reviews: Sunn O))) - Life Metal

9 / 10