Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – Soused

This collaboration between Scott Walker and Sunn O))), two absolute titans of cranium melting, molten sonic frequencies was greeted with fearsome trepidation; the ultimate unholy alliance of true uncompromising trailblazers all in the name of art. But how different could Walker possibly sound with Stephen O'Malley's men as his backing? Not very different at all.

‘A beating would do me the world of good,’ bellows Scott on Brando, the opening track. But there are no real beatings on offer here; instead Soused is the most straight-ahead album the typically esoteric Walker has offered in years, largely stripped of the playful experimentation and surreal extemporisation of the masterful Bish Bosch, though not to the detriment of its overall quality.

The real standout here is Fetish, with strangled saxophones and dark intonations about a ‘choo choo Mama’; this provides the definitive Scott O))) intersection, all bruising distortion and wild vocal histrionics but the other four tracks fail to scale such peaks and instead occupy some sort of truce between sporadic crooning and extended drones. Nevertheless, Soused does sound incredible, O’Malley’s guitars are utterly colossal, the feedback alone towers with portent while Walker’s voice is still wracked with perfectly pitched anguish and torment. [Colm McAuliffe]