Sunn O))) + Earth - Islington Academy, London. 10/02/06.

Earth - They are the fathers of drone and they were on their game. That trombone is fucking awesome BRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRR! Although I would have enjoyed it more if they weren't trying to compete with their doomy proteges and dark lords of drones SUNN O))

Now let me make this abundantly clear, this was not a gig, this was an endurance test. At no single point during their 'set' was anything even remotely enjoyable or fun. Now, I'm not a newcomer to extreme music but this pushed every boundary. First of all you had to compete with the sheer volume. I've been to one or two gigs in my time but this was on a completely different scale. How can I describe it? Well, you know that thing that happens to your ears when you only open one window of a car and there's that bassy flapping type sound that seems to push your head inwards. Well that's how the show started. But it lasted about 10 minutes and was turned up to an inhuman volume. I've been to loud shows before and I've been to sunn o)) shows before but this was something else entirely.

So after this 'intro', Sir Steven of O'Malley and Lord Greg of Anderson glided onto the zero-visibility dry-iced stage, clad in their hooded robes, and picked up their gloom axes. And thus beganeth the show. Holy fucking fuck. This is when people started dropping. The guy standing directly behind me, who had spent the whole night explaining his metal gig credentials to anyone who cared to listen, just flat passed out. His head hit my shoulder and he was out. He was moved to one side, the eternal drone lords before us oblivious to the carnage they were creating, oblivious to it or reveling in it I could not tell. The the chap next me knelt down in an attempt not to vomit. He succeeded, just. But his mate wasn't so lucky and had to rush off in quite a hurry. The loud, fat, obnoxious, drunk, ginger man who was standing directly in front of me and had generally irritated me for the entire evening now had both his hands firmly clamped over his ears and, after about half an hour he too had to leave the room. Then the vocalist came onto the stage. I don't know who this man is but he has face paint like Gene Simmons and a big fucking robe. Obviously. He repeatedly screamed two words in some unholy language, the man a mouthpiece for Satan himself. And what then? Well, it all got fucking louder didn't it. Greg Anderson summoning his minions with a cloven hoof, Steven O'Malley pointing to his next victim and hugging the wall of Sunn amps that decorated the stage, the 'vocalist' screaming prayers to some dark demon and the audience close to tears. The next half hour was painful. At every single point I wanted it to end but, at the same time wanted it to last forever. The climax eventually came after just over an hour. Both Dark Lords had now placed their axes on top of the wall of amps and were holding the amps, giving the appearance of some kind of sub-bass crucifixion. And then nothing. Except for an ache in every part of my body.

I can honestly say I have never had such an intense experience in music. It was completely crushing. I hope I never have to do it again, but I'm glad I did it once. Sunn O)) demonstrate how there are still boundaries to be pushed in music. Music can make you feel things both emotionally AND physically. They left the audience shit smeared, vomit stained, unconscious, deaf and bruised but no one could walk away from that saying they were unaffected. I didn't enjoy (in the traditional sense) one second of the show but feel a more complete person for seeing it. I can comprehensively state that you can stick all your fucking 'emo' up your arse. Music shouldn't always be 'easy on the ear'. It doesn't have to be 'fun' and it certainly doesn't have to have 'a good chorus'. Sometimes it has to hurt. Sometimes it has to leave you physically scarred. This is what music is all about. Truly breathtaking. Quite literally.
(AdDEM - Dragon Eye Morrison)