I often think we’ve got Sunn O))) wrong. For all the talk of records about hidden civilisations, the robes, the notorious if occasionally exaggerated anecdotes about the physical impact of their gigs on unsuspecting audiences, the odd onstage fight, the intensity of their heaviosity that inspires writers and fans alike to perplexed rapture with words like “crepuscular”, rarely do we see them described for what they are – masters of the ecstatic. The aesthetics – black metal warped via contemporary design – and presence of Attila Csihar might once have promoted a newly initiate broadsheet journalist to whisper ask me „are they Satanists?“ but Sunn O))) really, have always been about the light. Most times I’ve seen them play live the experience has been one of reflective or joyous endorphin release, more akin to a cathedral evensong or standing under the ice-cold waterfall of a mountain stream than an unpleasant sonic assault. As Stephen O’Malley told me in 2017, „This isn’t a violent thing. It’s powerful, but our intention is not to be destructive. It’s nourishment.“
(Luke Turner on „Life Metal“)