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Dec 4, 2015This is the soundtrack to the decline of our species, once again illustrating that Sunn O))) is one of the most interesting and progressive groups in heavy music.
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Dec 2, 2015At a mere 35 minutes, Kannon is a fleeting journey. But in that allotted time, Sunn do what they do best, crafting an inescapable atmosphere of flowing drone metal, and as a whole, it’s arguably their best composition to date.
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Feb 19, 2016This is beyond immersive; this is music to suffer a cleansing obliteration to.
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Jan 28, 2016What’s left is distinctly Sunn O))) in scope and scale, as heavy and loud and intense as anything they’ve produced.
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The WireDec 16, 2015The album retains a taste for annihilation. [Dec 2015, p.56]
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Dec 14, 2015While some will still view the album as a 30-minute intro to a track that never starts, others will want to pull this cacophonous duvet up to their chins and luxuriate in what might just be the most sumptuous, atmospheric and varied SunnO))) album to date.
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Dec 11, 2015ts concise nature, glossy finish and sense of clarity (something that even extends to the band photography) suggest that, as strange as it might seem, this is not a return to Sunn O)))’s metal roots, but is instead, for all intents and purposes, their pop album.
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Kerrang!Dec 10, 2015The slo-mo mantras of this three-part suite successfully blast the divisions between high and low culture to smithereens. [5 Dec 2015, p.52]
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UncutDec 9, 2015Kannon will leave other neophytes feeling awed by the complexity and physicality achieved here. [Jan 2016, p.70]
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Dec 7, 2015The lack of any sort of beat only adds to the disorientation. And yet, played loudly enough, Kannon sounds astonishing: by turns eerie, hypnotic and thrilling.
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Dec 7, 2015On Kannon, Sunn O))) illustrates through heavy sonic immersion that noise and silence are equals--aspects of circular, self-perpetuating emptiness. Like the persona of the deity, they generously receive and contain all the sounds of the world in all their dimensions of darkness and light.
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Dec 4, 2015A singular listening experience, Kannon is best consumed at extreme volume and with an open mind.
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Dec 3, 2015The abstract, astral plane trifecta of the Kannon pieces is undeniable and one suspects that the spiritual connections these masters hold with their instruments and the frequencies which emanate are deeper and more remarkable than we could have imagined.
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Dec 3, 2015It’s a daunting 30 minutes of music, but there’s something surprisingly calming about Kannon, something that hints at the hidden depths beneath Sunn O)))’s cloak-and-dagger routine.
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Dec 3, 2015The riff mantras that comprise each of these three "Kannon" are among the most laser-focused and emotionally charged pieces ever to emerge from the camp.
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Dec 3, 2015Kannon, like Terrestrials, says its three-section piece in under 40 minutes, but is a more intense, punishing affair.
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Dec 2, 2015Sunn O))) devotees will find satisfaction, but newcomers should start with 2009’s igneous rock classic Monoliths & Dimensions.
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Dec 2, 2015Kannon certainly won’t be delivering any Christmas number ones, but what Sunn O))) have managed to deliver is an exhilarating, colon-shaking song cycle of pitch black metal that will perfectly complement those approaching January blues.
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Dec 7, 2015Even as they add unimaginable depths to a deceptively simple form, Kannon reasserts their commitment to merely existing, unapologetically out of genre and out of time.
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Dec 3, 2015Kannon is Sunn O)))'s most sparse offering in years, but the experiment in meditative metal minimalism is more than capable of shooting listeners towards a higher plane of consciousness.
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Dec 3, 2015Kannon is surprising in two ways. One is its brevity: just over half an hour. The other is its austerity, even for a fairly austere band. This music demands a lot. It’s hard to love, and hard to share.
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Dec 3, 2015[Anderson and O'Malley] find a middle ground of compromise that steers safely away from the frisson of conflict. At least they sound good doing it.
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Dec 14, 2015Ultimately, this is tinkering around the edges of a formula rather than a bold stylistic shift--and while this makes Kannon an easy disc to recommend to newcomers, ultimately it goes nowhere SunnO))) haven’t gone before.
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Dec 9, 2015The dynamics seem tired: boom leads to bliss and back to boom again. It's more of the same harsh, ambient wallpaper (peeling) stuff.
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Dec 14, 2015Ignoring the conceptual background, Kannon only achieves the very cusp of the transportative, magical power of past Sunn O))) albums.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 9 out of 15
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Mixed: 3 out of 15
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Negative: 3 out of 15
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Jan 2, 2016
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Dec 8, 2015