Stephen O'Malley - Dread Live (2016)

Stephen O’Malley deploys the 2nd in a trio of documents of his improvisational prowess following his crushing Fuck Fundamentalist Pigs, which was brought forward in tribute to the Paris attacks and released in late 2015.

The minimalist electric guitar mantra Dread Live was performed at Studio Helmbreker in Haarlem, Netherlands, September 2013, and recorded by Mathijs Ton on a hypercardiod ribbon mic with immaculate 70’s valve amp back line and technical support by the great Tos Nieuwenhuisen. The set was programmed as part of the opening of the Dread - Fear in the age of technological Acceleration exhibition at De Hallen Haarlem, curated by Juha Van’t Zelfde.

It renders 40 minutes of Sunn 0)))’s O’Malley at his most depressive and heavy and is something akin to a slow-motion baptism by waves of tarry, blackened harmonic distortion, holding us under ’til we nearly pass-out from its sinking pressure. Needless to say - it’s insanely good.

How low can you go? O’Malley knows.