The Drone Metal Thread

Boris with Merzbow - "Rock Dream" (2007)

Remember when rock music was dangerous & exciting? Well I do & it was a long fucking time ago now. These days we have to settle for bland & over-produced commercially focused offerings with light strummy acoustic guitars, pretty piano melodies & a former boy band member for a vocalist whose whiny delivery gives you the impression that he's on the verge of crying most of the time. Well FEAR NOT people because Japanese noise/drone/stoner phenomenon Boris have other ideas & this double live collaboration with legendary noise exponent & fellow Tokyo native Merzbow is just about the most rock 'n' roll release I've heard in the last 20 years. It's very loud, very noisy & outrageously fun whilst jumping around all over the place stylistically. The first disk begins with the 35 minute masterpiece that is "Feedbacker" (which is unquestionably one of the greatest pieces of music ever recorded) before taking you through the whole spectrum of sounds encompassed by Boris' extensive back-catalogue. Overall, I'd suggest that this release sits somewhere between post-metal, drone metal & Sonic Youth style noise rock with bits & pieces of stoner metal, psychedelic rock & heavy psych here & there but it really doesn't matter what style you prefer. If you love loud, dirty guitars & trippy, cerebral psychedelics then this release is absolutely worth almost two hours of your time.

4.5/5

This weekend's list is my Top Ten Drone Metal Releases Of All-Time:

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

06. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

07. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

08. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

09. Sunn O))) – “Monoliths & Dimensions” (2009)

10. Earth – “Earth 2: Special low Frequency Version” (1993)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

I've taken a little bit of creative license with a few releases that offer much more than drone metal (see the Neptunian Maximalism, Boris with Merzbow & Corrupted records for example) but I figured that if it wasn't for the drone metal link then they may not be on the site at all so why not allow them to qualify for a list like this one.

I do enjoy drone metal when in the appropriate mood, but can't claim to be any kind of authority.

Anyway, my top ten goes like this:

1. Bismuth - The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef (2018)

2. Boris - Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (2003)

3. Khanate - Khanate (2001)

4. Wo!vserpent - Aporia:Kāla:Ananta (2016)

5. Neptunian Maximalism - Éons (2020)

6. Trees - Light's Bane (2008)

7. Nadja - Radiance of Shadows (2007)

8. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (2008)

9. Khlyst - Chaos Is My Name (2006)

10. Father Sky Mother Earth - Across the River of Time (2017)

My updated Top Ten Drone Metal Releases Of All Time after replacing :

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

06. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

07. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

08. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

09. Sunn O))) – “Monoliths & Dimensions” (2009)

10. Naked City - "Leng Tch'e" (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

My updated Top Ten Drone Metal Releases Of All Time after adding Melvins' "Lysol" at the expense of Naked City's "Leng Tch'e":

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

06. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

07. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

08. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

09. Melvins - "Lysol" (1992)

10. Sunn O))) – “Monoliths & Dimensions” (2009)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

Earth - "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" (1993)

Earth's 1993 debut full-length "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" is arguably the most important & influential drone metal release of all-time. Interestingly though I've never regarded it as a genuine classic up until now & have always preferred Earth's 1991 debut E.P. "Extra-Capsular Extraction". I think this revisit may have seen me changing my tune though as I've come out of it finding it noticeably harder to deny its classic status than I have previously.

I think there's a couple of reason why I've not managed to get there previously with the most obvious one being that the shortest & most popular track on the album (15 minute opener "Seven Angels) has never struck me as being anything particularly special even though I do find it enjoyable. It's the most traditionally structured of the three lengthy pieces which I feel is probably what makes it the most popular as it's clearly the most accessible but I do think it sounds a fair bit like Tom Warrior & Martin Ain from Celtic Frost testing their rigs during a Celtic Frost soundcheck. Thankfully I'd happily listen to those guys all day long but I can't say that it blows my mind as it seems to me to be incomplete without further accompaniment. Things pick up very quickly though with the 27 minute "Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine" which is a less structured drone metal piece that still maintains some semblance of riffs amidst an almost industrial atmosphere. That's some very solid & outrageously heavy drone metal right there & it's worth remembering that no one else was making anything like this shit at the time. But the real reason that I can't help but gush over "Earth 2" these days is my sheer delight at the half hour monster that is "Like Gold & Faceted" which sees the band completely abandoning traditional rock tools & creating a wonderfully monotonous & highly cerebral journey through the darkest terrain imaginable. I mean this muthafucka sounds utterly triumphant but also as evil as any black metal act known to man. It invariably draws me to conjure up images of Lord Satan himself standing atop a mountainous peak in front of a huge army of his demonic minions & slowly raising his hands to the Heavens while all of mankind is forced to instantly accept that evil has finally overcome the last ray of hope for humanity. I can very easily see what Earth were trying to achieve with this track as it's undoubtedly been modelled on similar drone works from the previous decades but the outcome is absolutely immense, making it by far & away one of the best examples of the genre you'll find. In fact, I'll be fucked if this track alone isn't enough to warrant the inclusion of "Earth 2" in my Hall of Metal Glory so I simply couldn't resist the urge to elevate my score a bit further.

"Earth 2" certainly wasn't made to appeal to everyone but those that "get it" are in for a transcendent experience. I highly recommend the commitment to "active listening" with this one because if you let it become background music it'll no doubt SOUND like background music. Patience is required to wade through the murky sludge in search of transcendence but rest assured that it is in there waiting for you & the rewards easily justify the effort. "Earth 2" was made for a dark room & a good pair of headphones at high volume whilst lying on a bed with your eyes shut. If you let it engulf you then it's actually possible to see the event horizon that Sonny portrayed so beautifully in his review. This should be essential listening for all drone metal fans.

For fans of Sunn O))), Boris & Nadja.

4.5/5

My updated Top Ten Drone Metal Releases Of All Time after adding Earth's "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version"" at the expense of Sunn O)))'s "Monoliths & Dimensions"":

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

06. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

07. Earth - "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" (1993)

08. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

09. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

10. Melvins - "Lysol" (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

Just noticed my last list was also before I had listened to Earth 2 so an update is in order. I have also included Hell III for the first time as I have changed my mind as to whether it is sufficiently drone-led to be included.

1. Earth - "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" (1993)

2. Hell - "Hell III" (2012)

3. Bismuth - "The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef" (2018)

4. Boris - "Boris at Last -Feedbacker-" (2003)

5. Khanate - "Khanate" (2001)

6. Wolvserpent - "Aporia:Kāla:Ananta" (2016)

7. Neptunian Maximalism - "Éons" (2020)

8. Monarch! - "Omens" (2012)as

9. Trees - Light's Bane (2008)

10. Nadja - Radiance of Shadows (2007)

Bismuth - The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef (2018)

Bismuth are a Nottingham duo, comprising Tanya Byrne on bass, keyboards and vocals and drummer Joe Rawlings, who play sludgy drone metal and eschew guitars on their material. Their 2018 sophomore album, The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef, consists of only two tracks, the most significant of which is the 32 minute title track which is one of the finest drone metal tracks it has been my good fortune to hear. There is more than a little post-metal involved in the title track, the music being utilised to recreate the effect of the creeping destruction of one of the world's most under-threat natural habitats. Starting slowly and gently with droning synths and bass-strums intended to illustrate the beating heart of the tides and currents of the reef (I would suggest), Tanya's choral vocal effects giving voice to the sealife within and with cymbals providing the suggestion of crashing waves the idyllic scene is set.

Soon it becomes obvious that all is not well in paradise as discordant notes start to appear, suggesting problems are afoot in this most fragile of environments. The track then takes a heavier turn as chaos is wrought, the vocals become harsh, ragged screams of pain and the bass chords become huge, heaving upheavals of sonic malevolence. After a short breather whilst a degree of calm returns, the track plunges into even greater depths of despair and desperation as the inevitability of the end approaches before the return to gentle calm as death holds sway, the ending of the track somewhat mirroring the beginning, possibly illustrating that all eventually comes full-circle. This truly is a superb piece of drone metal, at once both atmospheric and delivering a particular narrative, an effect that is decidedly tricky to pull off, but which the duo deliver with aplomb and you will be hard-pushed to find a more effective narrative-driven drone metal piece.

The second track, Weltschmerz at just six mnutes long, is in danger of being overshadowed by such an epic track and the  feeling it has been tagged on just to pad the album out to the required length. This would be doing it a great disservice however as it is a pulsating, throbbing slab of drone/sludge inhabited by howling screams of anguished suffering (weltschmerz translates as "world-pain") that continues with the band's message of environmental armageddon. Obviously, especially with the considerably shorter runtime this is a much more immediate and accessible piece than the title track, but I think it deserves it's place on the LP and is a great track in it's own right, even though I think it may have benefitted from being a bit longer.

This is a brilliant album and is one of the very best drone metal releases that comfortably stands alongside genre titans like SunnO))) and Earth and if you love those bands and haven't listened to this, then really you should.
5/5

Sunn O))) - "Monoliths & Dimensions" (2009)

It's been a while since I revisited this highly regarded seventh album from this Los Angeles drone metal establishment & I'm very excited to have found that it's grown significantly in my esteem in that time. Sunn O)))'s 2005 sixth album "Black One" is still my favourite drone metal release of all time but this one is a classic in it's own right with each of the four lengthy pieces being excellent examples of their type. It's the two lengthier ones that bookend the album really do the damage though with opener "Aghartha" sounding very much like a ritualistic summoning of a demon while jaxx-influenced closer is spectacular in it's artistic scope & depth. The vocal contribution of Mayhem/Aborym/Tormentor front man Attila Csihar is as unnerving as you'll ever find & the guest contributions from a host of talented experimental musicians never threaten to overpower the sheer weight of the monstrous down-tuned guitar chords. I genuinely love this record these days.

For fans of Earth, Boris & Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine.

4.5/5

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Drone Metal Releases of All Time list which sees Melvins' "Lysol" dropping out to cater for the reinclusion of this release:

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

06. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

07. Earth - "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" (1993)

08. Sunn O))) - "Monoliths & Dimensions" (2009)

09. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

10. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

The Body - I've Seen All I Need to See (2021)

I am no hater of drone metal. Earth 2 is in my top ten metal albums of all time and I love Khanate, Sunn O))) and most of what Steven O'Malley and Greg Anderson put their name to. Hell, I even have The Body's 2016 album, No One Deserves Happiness scored as an eight out of ten. But I've Seen All I Need to See did very little for me, at least in a positive sense.

The majority of this album sounds like a recording of some demented maniac getting off in his garage on his comprehensive collection of power tools. The "vocals" consist of distant howls that often sound like an old-fashioned steam train whistle heard from several miles away. I must admit, it does pique my interest in one or two places, the track The City Is Shelled being the "standout" for me, but also the ending of opener, A Lament, when the thin keys come in and a couple of the drum patterns, such as early in The Handle / The Blade and during the latter half of Eschatological Imperative, are pretty decent. For the majority of the album, though, I just don't get it I'm afraid and a going-nowhere track like A Pain of Knowing just seems utterly futile. I've now done what I consider my due diligence and having listened through it three times in it's entirety, I can't see myself ever walking this particular path again. So, to paraphrase the album's title, I've Heard All I Need to Hear and let's leave it at that.

2/5

Interesting thoughts Sonny. The vocals were certainly challenging for me initially but I managed to see past them over time & now find "I've Seen All I Need to See" to be a really solid power electronics/drone metal record.

Interesting thoughts Sonny. The vocals were certainly challenging for me initially but I managed to see past them over time & now find "I've Seen All I Need to See" to be a really solid power electronics/drone metal record.

It is probably the power electronics that causes the issues for me. As I stated, I have enjoyed The Body previously, but I don't really think power electronics is for me. It sounds musically exactly what it sounds like literally - like power tools - and I've heard enough of them to last a lifetime!

I remember giving this album a chance in 2021 since it was getting a lot of traction early in the year, plus it was definitely out of my comfort zone at the time. In some aspects the 40-minute runtime was excruciatingly long, but in the end I was able to get what they were going for. I was able to get past a lot of the abrasive aspects and it started to become pretty compelling in the end. However, I never went back to it after those initial listens and, through remembering what this album sounded like, I can only imagine my patience with it would wane if I would try to jump back in. I don't find this kind of sound design inherently interesting on a mechanical level, so I'm probably going to leave this one as a nice listening experiment for me. 

As I have given high scores to a couple of drone metal albums recently I am going to update my top drone metal list.

I have also made an actual list:

My Top 20 Drone Metal Releases by Sonny

1. Hell - Hell III (2012)

2. Earth - Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (1993)

3. Bismuth - The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef (2018)

4. Khanate - To Be Cruel (2023)

5. Trees - Light's Bane (2008)

6. Boris - Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (2003)

7. Monarch! - Omens (2012)

8. Neptunian Maximalism - Éons (2020)

9. Wolvserpent - Aporia:Kāla:Ananta (2016)

10. Khanate - Khanate (2001)

11. Sunn O))) - Life Metal (2019)

12. Crawl - Damned (2023)

13. Big Brave - Vital (2021)

14. Sunn O))) - Black One (2005)

15. Nadja - Radiance of Shadows (2007)

16. Father Sky Mother Earth - Across the River of Time (2017)

17. Endless Floods - Circle the Gold (2019)

18. A Storm of Light / Nadja - Primitive North (2009)

19. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (2009)

20. The Body - No One Deserves Happiness (2016)

FVNERALS - Let the Earth Be Silent (2023)

Fvnerals produce metal that is more about texture and atmosphere, rather than having any interest in traditional songwriting. As such their music has more in common with drone, ambient and post-rock, but it is nevertheless still rooted in metal and drone metal in particular. I have also seen it labelled as funeral doom but, personally, I don't think so. Musically, the bulk of the album consists of hulking, ritualistic drones laid down by songwriter Syd Scarlet's huge guitar chords and feedback, reinforced and fortified by Tiffany Ström's bowel-loosening bass and Thomas Vaccargiu's sparse drumwork. Ström's haunting vocals soar over these sonic monoliths like a super-heavy Cocteau Twins, her style of vocals being quite reminiscent of some of Chelsea Wolfe's recent work.

The tracks on display here seem to be quite simple, but everything is beautifully structured and the atmospheres and textures produced are gorgeous. Being of a somewhat fanciful nature, I find the album acting as a catalyst and back drop to flights of imagination through ancient, crumbling, cyclopean cityscapes or strange, alien, deep-sea vistas, places where sheer size and strangeness evoke a sense of wonder and awe, because that is exactly what I get from the music. FVNERALS have produced an album that gives me exactly what I seek from drone metal - something on which to hang imagination and fancy whilst still managing to crush the life out of me with huge, devastating chords.

A point where the drone metal sceptic may feel more at home regarding Let the Earth Be Silent is that the album's seven tracks only have a combined runtime of a shade over forty minutes, so this is no seemingly endless slog, with the longest track weighing in at a slight eight minutes and change. I myself tend to regard the seven tracks as movements within a single piece of music as I think they work superbly well in this regard. I think this could well have an audience outside of traditional metal circles with fans of ritual and dark ambient, darkwave, or even ethereal wave, who can shelve any prejudice against it's metal roots.

A favourite of mine to which Let the Earth Be Silent can be compared is Bismuth's The Dying of the Great Barrier Reef, so anyone who feels positively towards that should feel well at home here as it displays the same dichotomy between awe-inspiring majesty and a distinct uneasiness.

4.5/5

Bong - Mana-Yood-Sushai (2012)

I have only really been interested in drone metal for about a decade now and only started exploring it in earnest two or three years ago, but it has become one of my favourite genres and a lot of my highest scores of recent times have gone to drone metal releases. I guess that because I am quite an anxious person by nature, I find the monolithic droning of this style of metal to be inherently calming. Bong are a new name to me, despite them having been around for close to twenty years now and hailing from these British Isles I call home. They are prolific releasers of material with nine studio albums, a plethora of splits and EPs and thirty-plus live albums.

Mana-Yood-Sushai is the four-piece's third album, released in 2012, and is a sublime mix of drone metal and psychedelia that gives it a heavy eastern, mystical flavour, a sound I really love to hear brought into the sphere of metal. The album consists of only two tracks with the 27 minutes of the first track, Dreams of Mana-Yood-Sushai, being the one that really hooked me in. One of the members of Bong is sitar player, Benjamin Freeth, and his jangling strings combine perfectly with the droning chords of guitarist Mike Vest on Dreams... that seems to conjures up vistas of setting suns over mystical eastern temples that I found to be an inordinately meditative and restful piece. The track also features bassist/vocalist Dave Terry with some really nice throat singing that further enhances the eastern flavour with it's ritualistic chanting style favoured by eastern mystics.

Second track, Trees, Grass and Stone, is just shy of twenty minutes in length and is an instrumental, making it a bit more jam-like than the opener with the percussion of drummer Mike Smith driving the track and taking a more prominent role. It is also a heavier-sounding track than Dreams... the droning chords carrying increased weight and settling over the listener like a heavy blanket. As is true of an awful lot of drone metal, it is most effective when listened to at higher volumes, at the point when the experience can become almost physical and it's simple structure can fully infiltrate the listener's senses and become a transcendental sensation.

So once more a new drone metal discovery has me reaching for my higher scores and takes it's place in my list of metal favourites.

4.5/5

Another update to my  Top 20 Drone Metal releases:

1. Hell - Hell III (2012)

2. Earth - Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (1993)

3. Bismuth - The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef (2018)

4. Khanate - To Be Cruel (2023)

5. Trees - Light's Bane (2008)

6. Boris - Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (2003)

7. Bong - Mana-Yood-Sushai (2012)

8. Monarch! - Omens (2012)

9. Neptunian Maximalism - Éons (2020)

10. Wolvserpent - Aporia:Kāla:Ananta (2016)

11. Khanate - Khanate (2001)

12. FVNERALS - Let the Earth Be Silent (2023)

13. Sunn O))) - Life Metal (2019)

14. Crawl - Damned (2023)

15. Big Brave - Vital (2021)

16. Sunn O))) - Black One (2005)

17. Nadja - Radiance of Shadows (2007)

18. Father Sky Mother Earth - Across the River of Time (2017)

19. Endless Floods - Circle the Gold (2019)

20. A Storm of Light / Nadja - Primitive North (2009)

Sunn O)))'s "Monoliths & Dimensions" and The Body's "No One Deserves Happiness" fall out to make way for Bong and FVNERALS.

Naked City - Leng Tch'e (1992)

Naked City's Leng Tch'e has a reputation for being one of the most disturbing and affecting metal releases of all time. Comprising a single 30+ minute drone metal track and taking it's title from the torturous chinese method of execution whereby the condemned slowly has parts of their body sliced off and with a cover consisting of a photo of a victim undergoing said execution method, I was certainly expecting a tough listen as I approached this for the first time.

The first half of the track is indeed a great slab of drone metal with massive chords drenched in feedback, sparse, yet ominous percussion and a generally disturbing atmosphere prevailing, setting us up for the reputedly horrifying second half which features the tortured screams of japanese vocalist Yamatsuka Eye and the wailing freeform saxophone of John Zorn. So when this supposedly blood-curdling, spine-tingling tsunami actually hit, I was completely blindesided by just how much of a disappointment it was. The actual howling and screaming of Yamatsuka Eye is less disturbing and more irritating, sounding like a hysterical B-movie scream queen, which completely destroyed all the good work done on the build-up until then. In fact, when Zorn's manic sax playing joins the fray, I couldn't help but think that it would have been much more effective to let the sax alone express the horror of the situation.

I honestly cannot see where Leng Tch'e has gained such a notorious reputation. I have heard much more disturbing vocalisations in extreme doom and drone from the likes of Khanate and Thorr's Hammer, even Burning Witch's Edgy 59 is more disturbing than what we have here. And you know what, that is a crying shame because without those annoying screams this would actually be fucking brilliant, but for me they make it almost unlistenable and not in a good way, whereas without them this would have edged very close to a 5/5 for me.

3/5 (despite how much I hate the screaming)

Earth - "Extra-Capsular Extraction" E.P. (1991)

The debut release from Washington's Earth was my introduction to the drone metal sound & it came about upon my return to metal back in 2009. I'd decided to explore all of the subgenres that had become popular since my exodus had begun with drone metal being one of those that I found the most appeal in. "Extra-Capsular Extraction" is also one of those unique releases where a ground-breaking artist not only comes up with an entirely original take on metal but also absolutely nails it on the first attempt so it's no surprise that Earth's early works are spoken of in such high regard even today.

"Extra-Capsular Extraction" is a three-track, 32 minute effort that includes just the two ideas. The first ("A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge") is broken into two parts which, when combined, amount to a fourteen-minute dirge that reminds me of early Godflesh with its minimalistic (& presumably programmed) drums only being used to colour & keep time while the guitars of band leader Dylan Carlson lure you into a trance-inducing darkness through sheer patience & repetition. The bass guitar is simply there to create a continuous bottom end hum for Dylan to work over. I have no doubt that the early Celtic Frost releases were an influence here as you can easily pick up elements of Tom G. Warrior's tone in the simplicity of the very few riffs employed, each stretched out for what seems like an eternity. It was certainly a solid way to start to Earth's recording career but the real gold here is the 18-minute "Ouroboros Is Broken" which is quite simply one of the most devastating pieces of music I've ever experienced. And I do say "experienced" because it's not the sort of thing you just "listen" to. It lures you in, changes your entire physical being & completely engulfs you in what would have to be one of the most powerful, triumphant & genuinely evil atmospheres I've ever been so lucky to stumble across. The subtle use of keyboards is perfectly executed to ensure that the listener's attention remains resolute, even at the most extreme end of repetitive self-indulgence. It's the ever-changing effect of a super-loud distorted guitar playing a wonderfully Black Sabbathian riff & milking it for all it's worth while it's tone is continuously feeding back & degrading naturally that appeals to this old axeslinger. It represents the purest example of guitar worship you'll ever encounter & it's this piece that essentially summarizes what every drone metal band that's existed since has been so desperately trying to emulate. I can't say that too many have achieved it either in all honesty.

"Ouroboros Is Broken" was a total game-changer for me personally & saw me very quickly exploring the remainder of Earth's back catalogue. There's definitely some gold there too but I don't think I've found anything to match this initial assault on the senses so "Extra-Capsular Extraction" should be essential listening for any Sunn O))), Boris or Melvins disciple. You even get Nirvana mastermind Kurt Cobain (Dylan's best mate & drug buddy) contributing some vocals for good measure which only adds to the novelty.

4.5/5

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Drone Metal Releases of All Time list with "Extra-Capsular Extraction" moving up five places to number five:

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

06. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

07. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

08. Earth - "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" (1993)

09. Sunn O))) - "Monoliths & Dimensions" (2009)

10. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

Sunn O))) - The Grimmrobe Demos (2000)

Sunn O))) were formed in 1998 by Goatsnake's Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, who was looking to form a new outfit after the splitting-up of Burning Witch, their name intended as a pun on Earth's moniker as the drone pioneers were huge influences on Anderson and O'Malley. The Grimmrobe demos were released in 2000 as the band's debut release, with the duo's worship of all things Earth resulting in the album containing a track called "Dylan Carson" after the Earth mainman. The sound on Grimmrobe Demos is heavily based upon that explored by Carlson on Earth's debut, the seminal "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" with super-slow tempos, heavily distorted and downtuned guitar tones and feedback, all designed to present a monolithically towering sound with which to swamp the listener. Drums are entirely absent as there is no percussion required here, the tempo being so slow and crawling as to render any sort of timekeeping irelevant. Even for Sunn O))) there is little variety offered here, these are unflinchingly slow and crushing primal soundscapes, with zero evidence of the experimentation the duo were to introduce on some of their later releases. This is the music of nature, the music of tides, the music of tectonic plate movements and I imagine, in my more fanciful flights of fancy, that this is what it would sound like if you could get close enough to a star to hear those awe-inspiring cosmic furnaces burning off their plasmic fuel.

I have touched on elsewhere how busy experimental and technical metal often causes me difficulties because of the challenges I often experience with sensory overload, well Sunn O))) are a perfect antidote to that for me, these bassy and monolithically repetitive aural experiences enveloping like a comforting blanket, providing a calming and meditative experience that I don't often find elsewhere. I get it that these guys really aren't for everyone, or even most people, but they are amongst some of the best at what they do and personally I would hate to live in a world where Sunn O))) didn't exist.

4.5/5

Earth - "Demo 1990" demo (1990)

I've got a real soft spot for these godfathers of the drone metal genre & that extends to their earliest recordings with this six-song demo tape being of a very high standard. This material is not all drone metal though. "Methadrine" sounds more like Black Sabbath-inspired stoner metal, "Divine Bright Extraction" sits somewhere between alternative rock & shoegaze while "German Dental Work" & "Dissolution" fit into the industrial metal space alongside artists like Godflesh very comfortably. But then we have the two enormous drone metal pieces that highlighted 1991's classic "Extra-Capsular Extraction" E.P. (i.e. "Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge" & "Ouroboros") with both of them coming across as fully-realised even in this primitive format, particularly "Ouroboros" which is an all-time favourite of mine. If you dig Earth & their various creative endeavours then you'll likely want to hear this one too.

For fans of Sunn O))), Boris & Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine.

4/5