Here’s the thing about Soused, the collaborative album from avant-garde singer-songwriter Scott Walker and everybody’s favorite drone/doom merchants Sunn O))): it doesn’t really seem like that much of a collaboration. Yes, there are moments when the familiar downtuned bombast of Messrs. Anderson and O’Malley come to the fore, but if you come to Soused primarily as a Sunn O))) fan, you’ll find those moments to be disappointingly few (though they become more obvious with repeated listens). Still, there’s much about Soused to recommend, once you get used to some of Walker’s musical eccentricities.
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 One of the things that I love about music is that no matter how much time I spend listening to (and obsessing over) it, I likely won’t ever do more than just scratch the surface of what’s out there. The happy result of this is that pretty much every year there’s at least one band that isn’t even remotely on my radar that releases an album that completely knocks me on my ass. This year, that band is Portland-based psychedelic drone/doomsters Megaton Leviathan, whose recently released Past 21 Beyond the Arctic Shell has quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year. |
 Editor’s Note: Stoner Metal and Doom Metal are subgenres that many people use synonymously, but there are also likely a variety of distinctions between the two as well. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to say the subgenres are essentially one and the same. Check out the video below for a brief history of the Stoner/Doom subgenre. |
 Do you like music that bleeds emotion without saying a word? Do you ever find yourself comforted in the dark atmosphere of Twin Peaks and other film noir soundtracks? I do and that’s why I’m so engrossed with Piano Nights. |
