I had my doubts going to this show as both Sunn O))) and Eagle Twin performed in October last year at Tivoli de Helling on exactly the same tour. But, I’ve never seen a Sunn O))) show at Paradiso, which was according to a few people one of the best shows when they played there a few years ago so I decided to attend some Tuesday night drones. Let’s see what Paradiso has to offer to the Monoliths and Dimensions tour!

 

After seeing a very amusing performance of Eagle Twin at the Sunn o))) show only a couple of months earlier I was keen on seeing this duo play again. The sound here was already way louder than last time and especially the low tunes made my body tremble like I was in an earthquake. Remarkably enough, drummer Tyler Smith lost or broke at least seven sticks that we counted, quite an achievement I’d say. Also he had some screw ups here and there, making this performance a bit less than the one before. The band played for about a full hour in which they had some ups and downs, but in average it was still a very nice show to see and a great warm up for the drones to come. (DemonDust)

 

So, I was curious to see what Sunn O))) had to offer on the second tour in support of their brilliant album Monoliths and Dimensions that got released last year. And on the moment we walked in the room after hanging in the small room for a few minutes where pop-punk/emo rockers Destine were playing, there was almost no way of finding your way to the front as the whole room was covered with smoke. Now that’s what I call atmosphere! Sunn O))) started off with their way too long cd intro with metallic noises and soundscapes and entered the stage after 10 minutes or so to provide us with the opening track of Monoliths and Dimensions called ‘Aghartha’. Mayhem singer Attila Chisar entered the stage to perform most of the vocals on the track, but something memorable happened at the end of the track. Attila sat down on his knees, probably to put on his mask as he did on the last tour as well and suddenly stood up, walked a few steps backwards and fell over the monitors into the audience. First I thought it was some sort of stage act but as soon as a few people dragged him off, this was apparently not an act. Sunn O))) just kept playing and didn’t miss a single note, which I found very bizarre as this would probably get the best musicians out of concentration? The rest of the set remained instrumental, as Attila didn’t make his way back on stage but Greg Anderson occasionally picked up the microphone to perform a single note scream. The fact that the whole set was instrumental did add something really special to the set. Not that I don’t like Attila’s vocals, but hearing the tracks instrumental had something magical to it as well, especially due to the fact that the atmosphere in the room was unbelievable. The smoke machines kept on going, the lights were put to an absolute minimum and the sound was overwhelming, rarely hitting under 100db. The set lasted for about seventy minutes and closed off with the brilliant ‘Cry For The Wheeper’ from the Black One album, something they didn’t play on their last tour as far as I remember. A bizarre turn in the middle of the set which already made it very memorable, but this outstanding instrumental performance definitely made it the best Sunn O))) set I’ve seen so far. (Brent_)