Sunn O)))

Sunn O)))

Sunn O))) is a drone metal group from Seattle, United States, active since 1998. The name is pronounced “sun” and refers to the Sunn amplifier brand. The band forms around Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, and it releases most of its music through Southern Lord Records, the label it helps found in 1998.

Style and sound

The group is known for an extremely heavy approach that draws on drone metal, doom metal, drone, experimental rock, metal, dark ambient, black metal and noise rock. Its music uses very slow tempos, heavily distorted guitars, low tunings and resonant feedback, with little or no emphasis on rhythm, melody or percussion. Live performances are also associated with very high volume, robes and fog.

Formation and name

Stephen O’Malley, who also plays in Khanate and Burning Witch, and Greg Anderson, who also plays in Goatsnake and Engine Kid, form the core of the group. Before settling on Sunn O))), the pair briefly use the name Mars. O’Malley also says the name partly reflects a play on Earth, a group widely regarded as an early drone metal pioneer.

Releases and development

The group’s early releases include The Grimmrobe Demos and ØØ Void. ØØ Void first appears on several labels, including Rise Above Records, Hydra Head Records and Dirter Productions, while The Grimmrobe Demos is first issued by Hydra Head Records and later reissued by Southern Lord. Sunn O))) then broadens its sound across later records, moving beyond the mainly guitar-and-bass approach of its earliest work.

White1 and White2 bring in several guest musicians and expand the band’s use of quieter ambient material, electronics and unusual studio experiments. Black One continues this wider approach while also returning in part to the band’s heavier, more traditional sound. In 2008 the band releases the live album Dømkirke.

Collaborations and later projects

Attila Csihar of Mayhem performs as the main live vocalist from 2003. Sunn O))) works with Boris at ATP New York 2010 to perform the album Altar live. The group also releases Terrestrials with Ulver in 2014 and Soused with Scott Walker later the same year. It contributes to the original score for the horror film The Devil’s Candy, and works with producer Steve Albini on Life Metal and Pyroclasts in 2019.

Recognition and live activity

The band is widely regarded as a leader in its field and receives coverage and praise in major music press. White1 is named among the loudest albums in an issue of Q magazine. Monoliths & Dimensions is released in 2009 and receives strong acclaim, while the track “Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)” is named the heaviest song of all time on The Jason Ellis Show. The group also presents a four-day programme at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht in 2015, featuring Sunn O))) alongside Annette Peacock, Magma, Julia Holter and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.