By Rob Thompson
With Terrestrials we have another collaboration (the first was the little known "CUT WOODeD" track) between avantgarde aristocracy: the merging of tantric drone masters Sunn O))) with Norway's Ulver (a black metal/prog/goth/electronic/psych/chamber-ensemble). As something that started out as a 2008 jamming session (which has been added to and enhanced periodically over the years until now) Terrestrials is surprisingly cohesive.
The last Sunn O))) cooperative album was back in 2006 (Altar) with Boris but this three-song effort, ‘Let There Be Light’ (11:27), ‘Western Horn’ (9:37) and ‘Eternal Return’ (14:10) showcases a new and different whole that is bigger than the sum of its component parts. I feel that Terrestrials is a logical conclusion of two separate but parallel musical directions starting with Sunn O)))'s 2009 release Monoliths And Dimensions and last year’s Messe I.X-VI.X from Ulver. But make no mistake this is a group effort and it isn't a true follow-up to either record.
All these tracks don't display any devastatingly heavy frequencies. Rather the orchestral droning rhythms, atonalities and microtonalities allow the songs to breathe and sound both simultaneously fascinating and enticing. By eschewing a more complex approach all of the additional varied compositional layers are given the opportunity to delicately grab your attention. Ultimately this is the beauty of Terrestrials; the manner in which the music gradually and deliberately unfurls so slowly that you don't even notice it, but you end up in a far, far different place from where you started. After several listenings one minor criticism was that I felt that both bands had calibrated themselves downwards for the first and last tracks and it was only on track two where symbiosis was truly achieved. But saying that what is clear is that both Sunn O))) and Ulver exude gravity and total commitment to their aesthetic and this is probably their greatest virtue as it allows them to deep dive into the genre and really push it into new territory without it sounding strained or contrived. They almost don't sound like they're experimenting; they're just growing and evolving.
So then onto each of the tracks:
‘Let There Be Light’ eases the listener into Terrestrials using piano, pining horns, bass, guitars and drones that sonically flower into an uninhibited symphonic explosion. This track was my least favourite as I felt that at times the disconsolate seriousness on offer could potentially try the patience if you’re not in the correct frame of mind or mood to listen to and appreciate it.
‘Western Horn’ is next and this is much more familiar Sunn O))) territory with brown-note rumbles which menacingly thunder drone-doom style, all interspersed with Ulver’s haunting background violins.
The epic concluding track ‘Eternal Return’ is both sombre and imposing. This uber-slow ballad uses total deceleration to fragment the song to the point of extinction. Slivers of heaviness rise and fall to melt, with haunting splinters of heavy ambience and conversational vocals from Kristoffer Rygg. After around seven minutes conventionality was almost reached and something resembling a post-rock song starts to emerge before sinking back into a cosmic daze, which defies classification.
In summary, this is a jolly good seamless collaboration, which is very cinematic and ambient but I may as well say it, this isn't going to be for everyone. If you have a low attention span and live for grindly brutal tracks then avoid this like the plague. For me it’s the sort of record you'd pop on after a heavy night out when you just want to wind down, chill and tune out of this particular existence and into another one. If you love music that is judged on its artistic merits then this will be a contender for your album of the year.
