Sunn 0)))/Boris - Altar

To some, Sunn 0))) are true artistic innovators at the forefront of the doom metal revival who have introduced a fast-growing subculture into an entirely different way of experiencing and interacting with music. To others, they are those guys that walk around in cloaks emblazoned with amp logos who record 20-minute orgies of rhythm-less feedback that acid-heads like to listen to. If nothing else, Altar, their collaborative effort with Japanese metal phenoms Boris proves that both sides may have a point. Fair or not, it is the truth that no album with as much watery echoes and dreamlike ambience as Altar is going to be able to avoid labels like “psychedelic” and “trippy.” However, even the most cynical musical conservative would have to grudgingly admit that Altar is a very creative piece of work that lives up to its billing as a true collaboration (as opposed to a “split” album). “Etna,” the opening track, begins with a taste of what Sunn 0))) is known for: a few bottomless guitar and bass notes that coagulate with their own feedback and delay to create a kind of sonic earthquake. Unlike earlier Sunn 0))) albums, each note lasts only several seconds (as opposed to a few minutes) before there is a change in pitch and tone. Suddenly, Boris’ drummer, Atsuo, joins in the fun, sparkling and pinballing his way through a two-minute fill that would make Keith Moon proud. Hearing the sounds of Sunn 0))) with drums is certainly unusual, but not unimaginable. What seems unimaginable is when they all settle into a lumbering monster that almost sounds like…a riff… like, as in a regular song. Oh! The scandal! Okay, so the bizarre band from Japan has met the even more bizarre band from America halfway between their bizarre styles. Does that make Altar anything special? Not in itself, no, but it serves as a fitting thesis statement of what the collective is setting out to do. “Etna,” may sound like a simple melding of two relatively similar styles, but it also represents something different--maybe not greater- but different than the sum of its parts. It tells the listener that they might as well take whatever expectations they have of each respective band, roll them up in some zigzag paper and spark it up. From there on, there are no more boundaries, bookends or middle ground. There are only vast aural spaces which Sunn o))), Boris and their various guest collaborators fill with whatever they feel needs to be there. Among the cameos are former Soundgarden shredder Kim Thayil, (drone godfather and direct precursor to Sunn o))),) Earth co-founder Dylan Carlson, a brass section and, most surprisingly, indie folk rock songstress Jesse Sykes lending her haunting whispers to “The Sinking Belle,” which is most likely the prettiest lullaby you’ll ever hear from a group of people who appear in their band-photo standing in black cloaks in the middle of a large cornfield. Sound strange? Mister, you have no idea. [www.southernlord.com]