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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Monoliths & Dimensions
Universal acclaim
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 55 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Southern Lord
Release Date: 26 May 2009
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Metal
Summary
The metal band worked with composer Eyvind Kang on its seventh album, which features Australian guitar player Oren Ambarchi, vocalists Attila Csihar, Jessika Kenney, Earth's Dylan Carlson, and trombonists Julian Priester and Stuart Dempster as guest artists.
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site (Southern Lord Recordings)
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Drowned In Sound
For anyone interested in music that works both as art and an intensely new exciting experience--this is easily the best album that has come out this year.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Monoliths and Dimensions succeeds because it is the sound of a new music formed from the ashen forge of drone, rock, and black metal.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
It seems to have brought a band who had so long mired itself in total darkness into the cleansing light of day, and in both cases, the results are awe-inspiring.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
Monoliths & Dimensions, present O’Malley and Anderson’s sonic murk as something to delve into, their inescapable walls of low-end suddenly beaming with purpose and a million and one instruments.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
When you get past the initial impressions of both "Silent Shout" (2006) and Monoliths & Dimensions, you find something not only stellar but surprisingly different from one’s initial impression.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Per Sunn O)))'s long-standing dogma, "Maximum volume [still] yields maximum results." But this time, there's enough musical range and temperance to usher even the most resolute naysayer into this intricate wonderland.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
Hopefully those that came to SunnO))) through "Black One" will find much to love here. If they don’t they will be seriously missing out as Monoliths & Dimensions is devastatingly epic.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
Words are secondary for Sunn O))), a k a Greg Anderson on bass and Stephen O’Malley on guitar, who long ago made thunderous resonant sounds their stock in trade. What’s striking about this new release is its wealth of additional textures: woodwinds, brass, strings, male and female choirs.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
With nearly three dozen guest musicians chipping in, the aptly titled Monoliths and Dimensions is far and away the band’s most ambitious project to date, but typically, the many guest contributions are so subtly performed and arranged, not to mention entirely in keeping with O’Malley’s and Anderson’s collective vision, that we hardly notice.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Their seventh LP is a(nother) case of "none more black," but 'Big Church'--in which a Viennese women's choir provides the counter to crushing, sustained chords are striking departures from Sunn)))'s awesome canon. [Jun 2009, p.103]
Dusted Magazine
Monoliths and Dimensions is a bold step forward and bodes well for Sunn 0)))’s future relevance as not just musicians, but honest-to-god composers.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
With the explorations of additional instrumentation as well being more comfortable with silences and with echo, SunnO))) approach the freedom and abandon of the spirit-travelers alluded to in the titles and approaches on this, the band's best record yet.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Beautifully arranged, its four pieces amplifiy Sunn O)))'s signature drone rumble. [Jun 2009, p.96]
Under The Radar
The more Sunn O))) neglect their Earth-worshipping roots in favor of this sort of robe-wearing, avant-garde composer thing, the more interesting it gets.
Read Full Review >Spin
Well known as purveyors of viscous guitar sludge, the duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson expand their ambitions and make some startling jazz-ensemble noises on their seventh album.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 55 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Patrick F. gave it a9:
Not my favorite Sunn release, but it's really good. I'm not sure why the people who are reviewing it so poorly expected to like it in the first place. If you previously didn't understand or like drone, this album probably won't be one to change your mind, awesome as it is. Reading these reviews is an exercise in frustration; it's like a bunch of people, fully aware of their dislike for modern art, walking into the MoMA and loudly complaining about how awful and artless everything is. But to even these people, I suggest dropping your 'musical virtuosity' shields for once and letting the visceral effect of this album smother you. Maybe it'll do you some good. It's not suitable for every mood or situation, but when the mood does fit, it is fantastic.
Keith gave it a10:
Fortunately, not more of the same - the introduction of more instruments into the album while not overloading the songs brings to the sound its appropriate atmosphere. And yes, one feels the power of the Sunn O))) when he blasts it from powerful speakers. "Alice" might be their most graceful and beautiful track yet.
nick gave it a2:
I kind of get the dark ambiance thing but i don't see what's so special about this album - any reasonable musician could make this if they could be arsed, the thing is there are much more interesting things to do with noise that what Sunn have created. I respect the opinion of those who love it and in fairness I may be missing something, but it doesn't seem like an artistic leap forward or anything particularly revolutionary to me.
Lol :) R. gave it a7:
At First, It Starts with Agartha, which was a mind blowingly horrible song. I, however, stuck through the album after the 1 star song tragedy, and listened to Big Church. It was brilliant. Using christian gospel chiors in tandem with dronign guitars I thought would never work, but it did! It was eerie, lazily simple, but at the same inadvertently sophisticated. This song came in at 4 stars. After Big Church, there came Hunting and Gathering (Cydonia). This song was the first time I had ever heard Sunn O))) put an ounce of creativity into. They usually just play the same guitar notes over and over with loud volumes. But this one had the grinding guitar rhythm that was layered perfectly with low voiced vocals. In the final 2 or 3 minutes of this ten minute epic, it had the bell from Big Church and the quick muttering. This is something I found inventive. That and the trombones made this song a great opener for your Halloween 2009 mix. 4 stars out of five. The final song, and certainly the best song was Alice. The simple guitar rhythm provided a spooky, eerie texture to the song, and then it faded into an incredible jazz-ensemble outtro. It was incredible. It was mesmerizing. It was, in my opinion, one of the best songs ever made. 5 stars out of five. The mean for 1, 4, 4, 5 is 3.5, making it tied with OK Computer for best album ever on my list. Exactly seven out of 10.
P. M. gave it a10:
Did Julian Priester introduce Sunn O))) to trombonist George Lewis' 1979 "Homage to Charlie Parker"? This is great material.
Raul V gave it an8:
I find this to be good chill music. It's very slow, but not boring or pretentious (I don't know where people are getting pretentious from). It's not for everyone, but please don't be stupid and call it "uncreative". Bands like Three Days Grace are uncreative, not this.
Digger N gave it a1:
I kept waiting for the Stonehenge lyrics to start. Pompous rubbish. Very Tap indeed.
