WERE YOU THERE?: Sunn O))) + Eagle Twin @ Sala das Colunas, LX Factory, Lisboa, Portugal | 02.02.2010
A masterclass on the many different ways to be unbearably heavy.
I am a lucky, lucky bastard to have witnessed the Sunn O))) ritual so many times. After this latest edition of Amplifest which took place a couple of weeks ago, I can boast (and believe me, I will, often) that I have been present for nine performances of the hooded men and their ever-changing cast of companions. I have felt the mighty chest-rumble as delivered by just the core duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, but also with vocalists Scott “Malefic” Conner and Attila Csihar, with assorted combinations of the Steve Moore, Oren Ambarchi and Tos Nieuwenhuizen gang, and also on a few special performances alongside Keiji Haino and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
No matter who bears the robe at any occasion, each show is always different, always special, always unforgettable. And sometimes, even their chosen company for the occasion helps burn it even deeper in the memory banks. Take this show in 2010, for instance, as a part of their European tour in support of the ‘Monoliths & Dimensions’ album. As the last time that the band had been in Portugal before the Amplifest show, it’s only natural that it was a memory frequently evoked between all of those who were fortunate enough to be there (and the ones who weren’t have now heard us talk about it so many times, I’m sure they kinda feel like they were too) before this recent festival appearance, and it was wonderful to notice that one thing was universally agreed upon - Sunn O))) were typically devastating that night, nearly bringing down the semi-abandoned factory setting they were playing at (it’s since been recovered and turned into a place for arts and culture, fortunately), but so were openers Eagle Twin, with a particularly brain-crushing set that no one ever forgets to mention.
Based on their fantastic debut album ‘The Unkindness Of Crows’ which had come out only a few months before, Gentry Densley and his magic guitar/bass/war axe/whatever that thing is and powerhouse drummer Tyler Smith (who finished his set literally bleeding) pummeled the rabid crowd into submission, and regardless if you had heard of them before or not, you either moved or you were moved. Colossal doom riffs, harsh vocals, monstrous low-end and that insane amount of drum violence were all part of a performance that will long remain in the memory of all of us lucky fiends packed inside that dark, empty factory building. Fortunately I was able to see them several more times during their active years (including just a couple of months later at Roadburn), but this is still a sorely missed band. Hopefully their journey is not yet complete.
That the memory of Eagle Twin’s show is fondly held by everyone I know who was there is in itself a small wonder and really speaks to the inhuman intensity the duo applied that night, because anything other than a permanent mind-scar like this would get absolutely washed away by the sheer volume of what followed it. After they played, the entire room was filled with smoke and you could barely see your hand in front of you. Or anyone else’s, which is why I had a moment where I was scared shitless even before any of the tenebrous sounds were reverberating inside my chest - as I stood right in front of the small stage, waiting with my crummy camera to try and take a few pics of Sunn O))), completely enwreathed in thick smoke, suddenly a hand shoots out from the fog and touches my shoulder. I nearly yelped like a frightened child in a bad horror movie, and then I heard Greg Anderson’s voice speaking to me from the mist: “hey man, please don’t use flash, okay?” I didn’t even have the flash fitted into the camera that night, but I just blurted out “errrm, okay, of course not!” before that ghostly hand stole away my soul and cast it into the void or something. Shortly after, the rumble of the slow-motion riffs started, and I was so consumed by it that I nearly forgot to actually take pictures for a few minutes - these on the gallery below are the entirety of my snapping for their whole show.
Accompanied by Steve Moore and the great Attila Csihar in fucking full futuristic Nazgul mode, complete with melting face, spikey crown and finger-lasers, Sunn O))) were completely and absolutely unstoppable. In my head, they played ‘Aghartha’, ‘Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)’ and ‘Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért]‘, but I can’t promise that is 100% accurate. Doesn’t matter much anyway. That my hearing, eyesight and heartbeat are all still in more or less good working order after this double-header of savagery is enough to declare the evening a complete and unforgettable success.