Thursday July 2, 2009 (9:30pm)
Drone-metal veterans Sunn 0))) hit a new apex with May's Monoliths and Dimensions, seamlessly weaving elements of modern compositional and jazz into their ambient doom mega-riffs. But as always, their métier is the live show — fog machine, druid robes, and all. Tonight, the duo is supported by Steve Moore (Earth) on keys and horns and black-metal icon Attila Csihar (Mayhem), casting "invocations." Accommodating Monolith's dense, guest-heavy instrumentation to a four-piece means some sacrifice. Just not in the riffs, of course — those seismic, ultra-sludgy downstrokes, transcendent as they are pummeling.
– Stephen Gossett