I walked into the Sanctuary of the First Unitarian Church last night with no expectations; turns out even no expectations can be defied. To say that SUNN O))) is an experience to behold is an understatement, especially when the band plays in an actual church.
Eagle Twin is almost obviously on Southern Lord Records, the label founded by SUNN O))). The openers sounded akin to their tourmates with layers of droning feedback, but the riffs were more classic metal than ambient doom. The only way to explain Eagle Twin is this; imagine Clutch locked in a church for a month and forced to make a record. You buy this record which is supposed to be played at 45 RPM and play it at 33 1/3. Slow, sludgey, booming and as heavy as any element the periodic table can throw at them. With no prior knowledge, this is a genre that doesn’t lend itself well to playing “name that song,” even after the fact. Eagle Twin ripped and roared and then without any fanfare, it was over.
The best way to lead into the next portion of the show is a moment by moment description of SUNN O))) taking the stage. The lights in the Sanctuary go black, ambient noise plays over the PA system, something like a didgeridoo. Two R5 staffers clad in black robes (a signature of SUNN O))) shows) walk up to the front of the room and proceed to ignite the unlit candles at the end of most of the pews. More ambient noise, complete crowd silence. The organ at the church starts playing something of a funeral march. SUNN O))) appears and ends the world, or so it seemed.
The only live concert experience that can even be compared to what SUNN O))) did on that stage is My Bloody Valentine. Both bands are more concerned with atmospherics, both bands manipulate feedback like it was a marionette and both bands play loud enough that your ears will be droning for the foreseeable future. Not a ring, mind you. An actual drone, a sound that seems a little too low but still remains in your brain like a snapshot of doom.
Sprawling amplifiers surround the “band,” who raise their guitars like sacrificial lambs to the gods of otherworldly sounds. A figure that can’t be described as a “vocalist” joined the duo for some of the most intense moments of the set, almost speaking in tongues with some sort of ancient chant. Juxtapose the ancient with laser pointers on every finger and you have an intimidating figure, the kind that Geezer Butler probably dreamed he saw before he wrote “Black Sabbath.” There’s not really a comparison to Black Sabbath to be made with SUNN O))), but the Birmingham legends certainly were the aesthetic forefathers by which SUNN O))) can be traced back to.
It’s now 2am, I’m sitting in my room and writing this and I still feel a drone in the back of my head. The whole way home, I had to stop and try and figure out what exactly it was that I had just seen. It’s almost indescribable and even a little scary. It wasn’t a concert, it wasn’t a show, it was an experience and experiences need to be seen to be believed.
