Sunn O))) - The Grimmrobe Demo's (Southern Lord)

Need a work out? A Sunn live performance combined with a klysma will do juuuuust fucking fine. After one and a half hours and the rush of the klysma working like it should and you're as healthy as a shiny, green apple. Saw them live last week and goddamn, it was the best thing ever. I'm not that much of a concert kinda guy nor do I wear a klysma but I'm ready to hunt these guys down to see them again and, as ODB would say, feel the earth tremble under my balls once or twice more. Even the great, great Arcade Fire gig in Amsterdam two weeks ago doesn't top this. Even seeing Smegma for their first ever European show was no contest. Driving back for one and a half hours, my mouth was still open and my balls were slowly crawling back to were they belong.

Sunn plays bodymusic, you can feel it, you have to feel it. You have to crank the volume open to the maximum. It almost becomes a religious experience cos you can't do this everyday, at every time of day. Unless you live on a farm with your neighbours at least two miles away, you have to carefully select your Sunn sessions. Lay down, close your eyes and get carried away by the huge waves of feedback. It was surprising how good Enter the 36 Chambers held up during my trip home. That's pretty heavy on bass too. Fascinated I always was by the Sunn. Now, I'm possessed and these early sessions satisfy my needs at this moment like no crack could ever satisfy them. No, hypothetically speaking, of course.

There's so little difference in all three tracks that once you go down you stay down. The trance kicks in and, if concentrated, only wears off as the last seconds of the album tick away. That's the power and also the weakness of course. Patience. Got that and your in for a hell of a ride. The tracks presented on these early demo's are the foundation of Earth inspired Sunn, the concrete on which they would build impressive offerings like White1 and White2. There's nothing shifty or hidden on this disc, it's all in your face and ready to slowly tear your intestants apart. How's that for a metal cliché? This time it's truth.