When I told people on this particular night that I was going to a “show” at St Vitus, it was a complete understatement and might has well have been a lie. I was entering an alternate reality, a parallel universe, a dream, a nightmare, anything but a “show”

St Vitus has been the venue every local and touring act wants to play. This particular night, we get Sunn O))). Releasing their new album Life Metal, and playing a sold out show at Brooklyn Steele, it was no surprise that when St Vitus announced this show on Friday 4/ 26, that it would sell out in less than an hour. Doors were at 8:30 on this night at St Vitus and within the first 10 minutes of doors opening, the main floor was already backed all the way to the bar. The first thing that caught everyone’s attention was the wall of amps that went from one side of the stage to the other. Even people who may have never seen Sun O))) before knew they were in for a very loud night. The next thing that was facing the audience was the two fog-machines. These were the same machines that were utilized during their performance at Brooklyn Steele. These fog machines were enough to fill the whole venue space at Brooklyn Steele, and while I may be no stage tech, these looked like the fog-machines that could fill an entire arena. Now they are being used in a 200-cap venue in a room no bigger than an average high school classroom.

Before Sunn O))) took the stage at 9:30 that night, the fog-machine unleashed its full fury. It took a grand total of 30 seconds to fill the entire room to the brim. We heard this tribal/orchestral noise slowly play in the background as a sign that Sunn O))) was about to begin. As the room filled with fog, it filled with even more people as everyone rushed from the bar. Everyone who was standing, even if they were a few inches in front of you, instantly turned into a silhouette. The LED lights on the stage became less and less visible to the point where all you saw were the shadows of other individuals and a small glimpse of light that tried so desperately to shine through. You would almost think a volcano erupted on the stage.

As fog spread across the venue and into the bar, you saw a small strobe light come from the back as Sunn O)))’s crew were escorting them through the crowd of shadows. Once they took the stage, any notion of being at a concert venue was lost. Matter was no longer present, reality was no longer in existence and any idea of what you thought you were getting into at this show went out the window (or disappeared in the fog) Sunn O))) kicked in with their dirty, raw, atmospheric guitar tone. With their rig taking up the whole stage, you bet that their sound just pierced through your heart and shook you to the core. They instantly kicked in with their eerie sound and made this foggy atmosphere the most eerie and unsettling thing you can possibly imagined. You were no longer at St Vitus, you were in a realm of darkness, emotion and disorder. As they continued to slowly bring the sound of raw drone music that cant be defined, and as the fog slowly got thicker and thicker, these dark figures you could barley see with their instruments slowly, but surly sedated you with the darkness portrayed. Even if you were standing way in the back by the bathrooms or the bar, you would slowly gravitate towards these dark figures. You became one with the atmosphere that was created with their essence of darkness. Whether it felt like a dream, or a new reality all together is up to the listener, but by no means were you at a venue anymore. The way Sunn O))) executes their signature sound live, they are able to trigger all five senses. They are able to create music and noise that goes along with the unsettling, yet seductive environment that demonstrated. Darkness and disorder has never been so beautiful.

St Vitus being such a small venue, it is no surprise that the fog would slowly fill up the entire place from one side to another. If you entered the bar at that night, you were not missing out on the Sunn O))) experience at all. They bar itself practically became an optical illusion. You would see people socializing in the fog, bartenders serving drinks as the fog slowly became thicker and thicker. By the end of the night, you wouldn’t even be able to see the bartender a foot away from you. With Sunn O)))s raw sound just penetrating and echoing through the whole venue, it didn’t matter where you were. If you were at the front of the stage, at the bar, or even by the entrance, you were fully immersed into the dark real of Sunn O))). If you left the main venue area to get air or get a drink, it didn’t matter, Sunn O))) would decide when you would exit the realm of their art and environment.

When the show ended, the lights slowly illuminated and still, the murky fog still had its presence. Not only did Sunn O))) create an atmosphere out of St Vitus that night, they left their mark on it. The vibrations of signature sound continued to echo, you saw the faces of these people who were nothing but shadows during the performance slowly walk away like zombies and transfixed by a eerie yet mesmerizing performance, and you saw the fog slowly follow everyone out the door. This was a show that would rock you to sleep but at the same time scare you to death. This show can easily be someone’s dream or someone’s nightmare at the same time.

Sunn O))) live is not a concert. It is an experience. It is an alternate reality that you enter. It is an illusion that makes you wonder what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. Even if you know their entire catalogue, seeing them live is nothing like listening to them. This show will alter how you look at stage presence, live sound and maybe even your own being.

Talking with Liz and Dave of Earsplit, who have worked with Sunn O))) from the very beginning would tell me how for a long time how it was hard for people to understand them do to there raw and doomy sound. They would tell me how people wouldn’t understand them, only to be featured in Vogue Magazine years later. Thanks to Earsplit for constantly pushing this band for years on, only for them to sell out Brooklyn Steele and St Vitus in less than week. Even if you are not a fan of  what they would be labeled as “Drone Metal” or what ever you want to label them on the periodic table of metal genres, when you see them, you are in their world, their realm, their vision, and therefor, will be apart of it one way or another.