Sunn O))) – Pyroclasts Album Review

Album: Pyroclasts

Artist: Sunn O)))

Genre: #Metal

Sub-Genres: #DroneMetal

Label: Southern Lord

Non-Airable Tracks: N/A

Description:

Stephen O’Malley has been a part of some of the most exciting drone metal of the last 20 years. Whether its being a more traditional student of Earth’s drone metal on Sunn O))), treading dark ambient territory with KTL, or destroying the listener’s will to live on the strained songs of Khanate, he always seems to present a view of the world so twisted that some find his experiments truly repulsive while others find it to be a worthy emotional release. It comes as a bit of a surprise, then, to see Sunn and O’Malley playing so relaxed on Pyroclasts. The weight of the world has been lifted from the doom/drone metal and with it went the tension and the existential dread that dictated the mood of the music. All that is really left over is a pleasant/relaxing set of drones that will be out of your mind the second they are out of your ears.

There are four tracks here and it seems each dwells on one chord named in the tracks’ titles. Other than these chord changes, nothing seems to differentiate these four tracks of mindless doom. Unlike Earth’s masterpiece Earth from 1993 which does the same thing, Pyroclasts has no magnitude. It sounds like these chords are coming from a house next door that we are unfortunately subject to hearing throughout the night. It is hard to say anything here is particularly bad here however, in fact none of it is. As far a meditative drones go, you could do a lot worse, and for those who like their drone without the weight of the world resting on their ears, it is a pleasant enough listen. The only issue is that almost anything as one-note as Pyroclasts will function the same way. I would not recommend this album to fans of the genre or to people looking to get interested in drone metal, there are many better records to here that have much more presence.

Sounds Like: Earth, Sunn O)))

Recommended Tracks: N/A

Reviewer’s Name: Bryan

Date of Review: 11/13/19