while browsing around my back then favourite music store, the guy working there tried to sell me an album by negură bunget called om, which was supposed to sound “similar to moonsorrow”. well, that’s kind of a strong statement, but there is a bit of truth in it. but the main thing is, this made me experience a great band i haven’t heard of before. negură bunget is a romanian experimental black metal band. let me start with the first full song from the om album. this song is a beautiful stream of heavy guitarwork, great riffs, a awesome intertwine of almost spherical music with sounds of nature and black metal. i just love this.

the second song is the second to last song from the om album. beginning with 22 seconds of black metal, it evolves into a folk/ambient song, which eventually starts to get heavy again. a really crazy song.

the third song is the first part of the ‘n crugu bradului album, a concept album containing four songs about the four seasons. this song is about spring (and unfortunately, the youtube version is crippled; the beginning is chopped of by over two minutes :-( ). this song is, as is the whole album, very experimental, dark, technical, diversified.

unfortunately, two of the three band members left negură bunget in 2009 after some “differences”, and the remaining member found some new bandmates to continue the band. since the two members who left were responsible for many parts of the unique music of negură bunget, i consider the new lineup as a different band. maybe i’ll write something about them in the future…

sunn o))) is to music what david lynch is to film. if you have seen some of lynch’s more obscure movies, such as eraserhead and inland empire, you know how strange, disturbing these films can be. these are films you either like or hate, and to see them you have to be in the right mood. the drone doom duo sunn o))) is very similar, only that they make music and not films.

the music is dark, or more like pitch black. or even blacker than that. it is disturbing. strange. creepy. more art than music. and definitely nothing you should listen to when being in the wrong mood. the following piece, orthodox caveman from their album black one, is a very good example of their music.

they also did a joint album with the japanese doom band boris, which resulted in the album altar. unfortunately, the studio versions are not really available on youtube, so here’s a live version of the opener etna. sorry for the bad sound quality (though for a concert recording it’s actually pretty good)…