Sunn O))) Announce New Album, 'Life Metal'

Sunn O))) have announced their first new studio effort in four years, Life Metal, due in April via Southern Lord. You can check out a teaser for the album above.

Life Metal was recorded with Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studios in Chicago. In addition to Sunn O))) members and co-founders Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, the album also boasts contributions from Hildur Guðnadóttir (Múm, Pan Sonic, Angel), Tim Midyett (Silkworm, Bottomless Pit, Mint Mile), and new music composer Anthony Pateras.

In a recent interview with Stereogum, Greg Anderson talked about the meaning behind the new album’s title: 

“Well, it’s a relative of death metal,” he said. “I’ll just throw that out there. The story’s actually kind of humorous. We were at a party with Nicke Andersson from Hellacopters and Entombed. And he was talking about when Entombed had signed to Columbia Records in the mid-’90s. He started getting calls from his old friends in Norway in the black metal scene saying that he was a sellout and that he was no longer “death metal,” he was “life metal.” And [he was] actually getting death threats, I guess.

“So we thought that was the most insane thing we’d ever heard, and it kind of became an inside joke with the band. Like, when something, like, not gloom-and-doom was happening, it was ‘life metal.’ ”

Sunn O))) will support Life Metal with their first U.S. tour since 2017. You can check out tour dates here.

For full Life Metal cover art and track listing, see below.

Life Metal track list:

1. Between Sleipnir's Breaths 

2. Troubled Air 

3. Aurora 

4. Novae