由 OLD、Sunn O)))、Blind Idiot God 成員所組成的 Drone、Doom Metal 超級樂團,距離上一張專輯 14 年,三首曲目總長一小時,有著樂團標誌性的重響,同時掌握了豐沛的能量與簡約的精準度。最近到了一批口味偏重的 CD、黑膠,先從這張開始。
The highly influential Khanate return with their first album in 14 years, developing their singular and signature precise, temporal abstract doom beyond all thresholds. Khanate are Stephen O Malley (Sunn O))), KTL), James Plot- kin (OLD, Scorn, Phantomsmasher), Alan Dubin (OLD, Gnaw) and Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God).
Unflinching and brutal, the seeds for To Be Cruel were planted in October 2017 when Tim and Stephen spent a week in the English countryside at Orgone Studio with Jamie Gomez Arrellano. James began working these sessions into overall suites of music, a process the band has classically used on all of their prior albums. By spring 2018 initial song arrangements were proposed and over the latter half of the year bass, synth and vocal tracks were added. 2019 saw the completion of writing and recording at which point it was passed to Randall Dunn to mix, alongside the band, in 2020.
The three songs that comprise To Be Cruel are complex, powerful and multi- dimensional. The music is all-enveloping; dry, alive, rich, and blistering.