Impressions of Sunn O)))...

Bands: Sunn O))), The Accused, Eagle Twin

Venue: Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, Los Angeles, California

Date: August 11th, 2009

“Monoliths and Dimensions” is a strong contender for album of the year, naysayers be damned. In addition, Skull saw Sunn O))) a month earlier in Chicago and stated that they drew heavily from the album for their live performance. Naturally, I had to find out for myself, so I skipped the competing Heaven And Hell concert and made my way to the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock (a L.A. neighborhood) along with about 250 or so other people. Opening up would be semi-legendary crossover band The Accused (originally from the Eagle Rock area), and Gentry Densley’s latest project, Eagle Twin.

The Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, originally a Carnegie Institution Library, is an early 20th century structure in the Spanish Mission style of architecture. The building is used today for all manner of art exhibitions, classes, and whatnot. The centerpiece of the structure is the former library hall that becomes an intimate setting as a concert venue, albeit with a tiny, barely raised a foot off the ground, stage. The Center is the perfect place to serve as a cavernous space for Sunn O))), albeit in tight quarters with the rest of the crowd...

Pics swiped from the Center's website...





Arriving early, there was plenty of Southern Lord merchandise for sale, as well as cheap beer with the proceeds assisting the Center’s activities. First up were Eagle Twin, a duo from Utah featuring Gentry Densley on baritone guitar. I gave their debut full-length, “The Unkindness of Crows”, a positive review a few weeks back, and I enjoyed their set. Taking a couple of tracks from the full-length, Densley and drummer Tyler Smith smashed through a short set that was appreciated by the rapidly filling crowd.

Running into numerous friends, I sort of hung in the back for The Accused, an old crossover band that I hadn’t heard in at least 20 years. The acoustics of the Center didn’t particularly fit their style very well, but The Accused delivered an energetic, enjoyable set that was able to muster a small pit (the crowd was a strange mix of metalheads, beardos, and lots of girls in frumpy dresses and, for some reason, horn-rimmed glasses) towards the end of the set.

Taking in too much of the cheap beer, I spent the change over in line for the bathroom, and was only able to cram myself to within about 25 feet of the small stage for Sunn O))). Although I recognized bits of “Aghartha” and “Hunting And Gathering (Cydonia)” during the 65 minute long continuous set, I decided to forget about worrying about a possible identification of tracks and just let the harmonics wash over me. The fog was belching, one red light was lit along with streetlight filtering in the windows, and that was it for visual effects. It was enough as Sunn O))) played as a quartet with a great deal of trombone and vocal improvisation from Attila Csihar. Making an appearance towards the end of the set was a new costume for Csihar consisting of a crown of twigs along with an arm done up in the same manner, a full mask with horribly sunken eyes, and a burlap sack. The effect was one of a creature from some dense, primeval forest. This costume accompanied the slow fade out of the set for the final 15 minutes.

The crowd erupted, the hoods were pulled back, the wine bottles were raised, and Attila took off the costume for a brief acknowledgement with his arms raised…

Special thanks to Dave Brenner!

Always good to see Etan, Tom, Preston, Grace, and Javan...

Some pics...

Eagle Twin...



Structure...







Sunn O)))...