When Sunn 0))) frontman Stephen O’Malley last played Brighton, his seminal drone act turned the Coalition into a malign cave of quadrophonic heaviness. This solo show lacked those theatrics but retained the depth and majesty of the band’s sound.
Opening, Brighton folk duo Lutine fitted oddly well with the theme. Haunting harmonies tiptoed over dark pastoral folk like the delicate punctuation in the doom-rock dirges the audience knew so well.
Perhaps more what the crowd was expecting, Aluk Todolo, the self-styled “occult rock” trio, did their bit in the war against eardrums. Sprawling, instrumental drum-led numbers achieved that rarest of feats: with prog dynamics and a psychedelic bent, this irrepressible performance showed no sign of sagging. A goosebump metal climax left the night O’Malley’s for the taking.
The stage covered in speakers, this would be intense: a lengthy one-chord guitar gambit opened proceedings in familiar fashion.
O’Malley doesn’t have time for songs at all, let alone verses and choruses. Inducing a kind of sonic synaesthesia, this layering of heavy, repeated guitar noise to build an experience the audience felt throughout their bodies was simply awesome live.
Inducing a genuinely transcendent, near-hypnotic reaction, this maverick demonstrated exactly why he has such a cult following.
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