The American duo continues its quest for absolute drone metal, reconnecting with its Pacific Northwest roots.
2026 will undoubtedly prove to be a landmark year for metal. While Converge made a chart comeback in February, with another album slated for June, post-metal giants Neurosis—now joined by Aaron Turner (Isis, Sumac)—released a surprise album a few days ago, and the Toulouse-based Slift announced their new record, it is Sunn o)))’s turn to rumble back into our ears, masters of drone doom returning with a new fury.
For the first time in their career, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson decided to handle everything themselves on this tenth album, the first for Sub Pop, which once again pushes the boundaries of doom metal leaning toward drone, as illustrated by the demanding eighteenth-minute XXANN that, through lashings of feedback, distortion, saturation and rumble, pounds the ground, constricts, and overwhelms.
Nature and Chaos
Seeking to refocus their music on themselves and grant themselves a beneficial return to their roots, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson chose to record this eponymous record with producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Tortoise, Placebo, The Smashing Pumpkins), not far from their city of Seattle, specifically at Bear Creek Studios. Located in Woodinville, northeast of Seattle, in an old tall wooden barn entirely renovated, the place has hosted artists from various genres, drawn by the peaceful atmosphere of this creative space tucked amid revitalizing nature.
From the Strokes to the Foo Fighters, and Big Thief, many artists have come to recharge there, under the shade of centenarian Douglas firs, hiking the nearby trails and taking advantage of the place’s tranquility to focus on what matters. No surprise, then, to find, mingled with these oppressive guitar walls, the streams of a river and birdsong on XXANN, the river still visible at the start and end of the chaotic landscape sketched by Mindrolling and on Glory Black. An approach that also serves to remind how intimately this music is connected to the earth, to the elements.
Dark, Heavy, Suffocating
The absence of guests makes this tenth album even more uncompromising—though Sunn o))) has always been at the vanguard—and the usual deconstruction of sounds cherished by the duo is pushed to the extreme here (Butch’s Guns where the notes seem to stretch into infinity, sinking into our bones). Slightly different from the five tracks that precede it, more melodic and thus more accessible, Glory Black introduces after three minutes scattered piano notes that, while providing a welcome auditory breath, still keep us in the overall gloom of the mood.
It’s dark, heavy, suffocating, and it’s clearly a music that demands to be experienced live, in the mist and before a thick wall of speakers, to absorb all of its power.
Sunn o))) (Sub Pop/Modulor). Out on April 3.
