The Grimmrobe Demos

The Grimmrobe Demos
The Grimmrobe Demos
	; Album cover used for most pressings.
Studio album by Sunn O)))
Released	1999
Recorded	April 1998 at The Gas Chamber in Los Angeles, California, USA
Genre	Drone/Doom, Drone Metal
Length	55:42 (Original Edition)
Producer	Sunn O))), Mathias Schneeberger
Sunn O))) chronology

The Grimmrobe Demos are the first professional recordings of drone/doom band Sunn O))). Initially released in 1999 via Hydra Head Records with later reissues via Outlaw Recordings and Southern Lord Records, it can be perceived by some as the first full-length record by the band though the band themselves acknowledge ØØ Void as the first studio album.

The Grimmrobe Demos depicts Sunn O))) at their rawest with no guests of any sorts and is a direct worship to the band Earth, the band who the duo drew inspiration from. Up until 2018 it was thought among casual observers to be their first recordings.

Background[]

Writing and Recording[]

When the core members of the band (Then known as Mars) relocated to Los Angeles, they re-named themselves as Sunn O))) (After the amplifier brand). Initial recordings of their drone would be conceived in April 1998 at The Gas Chamber and mixed in April 1999 with sporadic concerts around Washington and California.

The album's third track was named after frontman Dylan Carlson of Earth, and is also a loose interpretation of the track "Ouroborous is Broken" from Earth's first release, entitled Extra-Capsular Extraction.

In 2008, the band would perform four shows to recognize the 10th anniversary of SUNN O)))'s creation and to coincide with the recording of their first album, "The GrimmRobe Demos." The band will be playing material from this album exclusively. The material will be performed by Sunn O)))'s core members only - Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson; No guests, no vocals, no keyboards.^[1] The first show of this tour would be released as (初心) Grimmrobes Live 101008.

Versions[]

The original pressing of the album was a CD on Hydra Head Noise Industries. Covering the CD was an outer sleeve in four different colours/prints on the black front cover: 10 black, 30 red, 30 silver, 666 gold. 15 test pressings were also made.

In September 2003, Outlaw Recordings issued The Grimmrobe Demos. It was a double picture disc with 3 sides playable, side 4 is etched (Cut with a knife like an antirecord by Stephen O'Malley, on purpose) and is unplayable, playing this side would break the needle. Both vinyls are wrapped in a black cardboard sleeve sealed with wax showing a pentagram inside. According to the Outlaw website only 219 copies were pressed, all handnumbered.

Southern Lord would reissue The Grimmrobe Demos on CD and Vinyl in 2005 with the main album remastered in 2004. The booklet of the second version of the album contains a long passage of apocalyptic writing by Seldon Hunt, written in Melbourne, Australia, during October 2004. The CD version featured a bonus track entitled "Grimm & Bear It". This song was remixed in October 2001 by Schneeberger and O'Malley from a live performance at Gabah, Los Angeles in May 1999, one of the band's earliest known live performances. The vinyl version would feature expanded titles and be limited to 2000 copies (1000 Black; 500 Grey/Blue Swirl; 500 Purple) with a 1998 rehearsal demo entitled "Bremerton" as a bonus. The vinyl also gave the songs subtitles as such:

Black Wedding [Lament For A Nordic Vision Buried By Wine & Dust]
Defeating: Earths' Gravity [Psilocybic Launch Unto The Psychosphere And Beyond The Graves]
Dylan Carlson [A Mere Offering On The Altar Of The Puget Lord]
Bremerton [Call Of The Burning Longships Upon Saline Sounds Of Despair]

On October 31, 2007 the band would reissue The Grimmrobe Demos as a 2CD set via Daymare Recordings. Along with Grimm & Bear It, the second disc contained the full performance at the Gabah Anti-Club from May 15, 1999.

On October 10, 2008 the band would reissue The Grimmrobe Demos as a 3LP picture disc. It came in an edition of 500 sets exclusively for SUNN O)))s 10th annum tour of the United States of America (4 concerts only, in the most desperate cities).

When Sunn O))) uploaded their discography on Bandcamp, all of the bonus tracks were uploaded separately as The Grimmrobe Demos // extended.

Tracklist[]