Album review: Sunn O)))’s latest a hypnotic work of unmistakable individuality

The duo that makes up Sunn O))) – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, plus a revolving cast of collaborators – present a mere trio of tracks, all hovering around the ten-minute mark.

Kannon by Sunn O))). Courtesy of Sunn O)))

Kannon

Sunn O)))

(Southern Lord)

Three and a half stars

It’s kind of ironic that this seventh album from the Seattle doom/drone/noise experimentalists Sunn O))) is named after an East Asian deity of mercy, given it’s not a quality the band have applied to their ­often physically assaulting 20-year career of sonic warfare.

The duo – Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, plus a revolving cast of collaborators – present a mere trio of tracks here, all hovering around the ten-minute mark. Kannon 1 sets out the stall of slow-motion wall-of-­amplifiers abuse, intertwined with restrained croaks from regular Sunn O))) mouthpiece Attila Csihar.

Kannon 2, by comparison, is almost relaxing, rumbling around monastic chants before disintegrating into a train-in-a-tunnel blast of low-end feedback. Kannon 3, meanwhile, is the most malevolent and captivating of the lot, beckoning you in until you realise 686 seconds of your life have evaporated.

It's safe to say you won't hear any of Kannon on daytime radio this side of the apocalypse, but as an immersive crawl into the American musical undergrowth's darkest recesses, it's a hypnotic work of unmistakable individuality.