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O'MALLEY, STEPHEN & Z'EV - Magistral

Format: CD
Label & Cat.Number: Southern Lord sunn71
Release Year: 2007
Note: last copies back in stock of this excellent collaboration - Z'EV uses guitar sounds from O'MALLEY and adds percussion & processings to form archaic / ritualistic ambience; oversized mini-gatefold sleeve
Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00
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More Info

"Not content with fronting Sunn 0))), who are currently one of the most influential metal bands on the planet, the prolific drone guitarist Stephen O’Malley (a.k.a. Soma) has participated in a bewilderingly vast number of subsidiary projects, including Thorr’s Hammer, Khanate, Lotus Eaters, Sarin, Burning Witch, Fungal Hex, Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine, Ginnungagap, etcetera, Æthenor, Altar, KTL and Grave Temple. This time around, he’s teamed up with veteran industrial percussionist and all-round soundsmith Z’EV, and the result is Magistral.


Stephen O’Malley sent Z’EV a recording of a guitar solo lasting eight minutes and 42 seconds, which Z’EV proceeded to stretch out like Hubba Bubba, remix, add percussion to, and generally fuck about with. Those eight minutes and 42 seconds of guitar are thus transmogrified into five tracks and 49 minutes of instrumental industrial ambient music. The über-geeky track titles offer the listener few clues as to how to interpret the music – ‘6m 59s From Last 42s Left Channel Only - 26 Track Submix’, ‘13m 48s From 34s From 5m - 5m 34s - 20 Track Submix’ and so on. The fifth and final track is the most listener-friendly and accessible, featuring pounding tribal beats, lashings of feedback and recognisable guitar tones – elsewhere on Magistral, the sounds on offer run the gamut from shimmering metallic drones and abysmally deep bass rumbles to abrasive, scraping industrial noise, inviting comparison to blackened ambient acts like Archon Satani and Sistrenatus, as well as to Z’EV’s similar collaborative album with Polish drone act Hati.


An absorbing and intricate piece of work that repays repeated listenings, Magistral was mixed by Randall Dunn, noted for his work with Earth and Sunn 0)). The album is lavishly packaged in an oversized gatefold sleeve with artwork by one Stephen O'Malley. Does this man never sleep?" [Judas Kiss webzine]


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