Sunn "The Grimmrobe Demos" CD
[Southern Lord]
Here it is: The recordings that started it all for Sunn some 5+ years ago, remastered by John Wiese.  All four of these tracks were recorded live, but only the first three made up the original release, with "Grimm & Bear It" taken from a different recording session (formerly a vinyl only track on the double-LP version of "Flight of the Behemoth") and tacked on as a bonus - making for a total of well over an hour of ultra deep and menacingly slow guitar/bass dronage.  The original demo was released by Hydra Head in an infamously limited edition run that had some exquisite packaging, which has been largely kept intact here as far as the actual imagery, though of course it's not quite as nicely printed as the original limited edition (which came sealed in an opaque black bag with the Sunn icon spraypainted on the cover and everything).  But regardless, the glossy coating on the booklet is slick and the Seldon Hunt text "Ode to the Grimmrobe." (All 10 pages of it!) actually has some fucking awesome moments in its abstract obscurity: "There is nothing.  No something.  There is only what there isn't.  Vacuums of mist and dust that bite and club your sanity.  You are complete and forgotten..."  Very nice.  Musically you should know what to expect here.  The shortest song is 15 minutes and the longest song is over 21 minutes.  Aside from a few brief spurts of swirling effects that start to rise to the foreground on rare occasion it's nothing but repetitious lulls of deeply resonant and sustained drones, so thick and detuned that there's not that much attack when a new chord is picked, so things just kind of mutate and sprawl across the plane of sound with enough distortion to add a little grit - though, again, things are so low that there's only so much of a bite possible, you know?  No drums, no vocals: Just pulsing, persistent, cavernous drones.  Is there a lot of variety?  No.  For the most part the first three songs sound extremely similar to one another, with "Black Wedding" letting a little more random movement from the effects play a role in the mix.  "Grimm & Bear It", however, does sound quite different since it was recorded at a different time.  There's a little more midrange to the sound, and things seem to feel more distant and abstract, which I really enjoy.  Something about the added levels of texture to the sound give it a more sinister and effective aesthetic, with some of the ambient sustain adding in an eerie undercurrent of melody, all of which makes for an excellent close to the disc.  I remember when I first heard this I was pretty let down and didn't care for it at all because I thought it was boring, but having listened to much more experimental music in the last five years as well as checking out some of Sunn's other work, the demo has actually become one of my favorite releases in the band's catalog.  And I have to say, "Grimm & Bear It" is my favorite song herein, so the re-release definitely has some padding in its favor over the rare original pressing.  This one's also available as a double-LP with an exclusive bonus track, for the vinyl fans.  I'm always in favor of seeing rarities back in print, so kudos for that.  (7/10)
Running time - 72:26, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Defeating:Earth's Gravity, Grimm & Bear It]
Southern Lord Recordings - http://www.southernlord.com

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