Black One drifts in with an overwhelming air of ceremony, minimalism, classical black metal, mega-low frequency & high sound pressure worship, theatrical drama, ritual music and avantrock, a true collaboration of a seemingly disparate yet actually related range of experimental performers from experimentalists Oren Ambarchi and John Wiese, to black metallist Wrest and Malefic, author Seldon Hunt and illustrator Jo Ratcliffe. Their work together with core SUNN O))) members Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson shows a progressive yet primitive pure subsonic power amidst a depth-plumbing siege of grim, molten frustration. With tonal magma explosions created under the influence of the utter darkest atmospheres, SUNN O))) endlessly seeks to push boundaries and demolish pre-conceived ideas of their eminence.

The composition of Black One benefits from the extensive live action appearances throughout 2004/2005 which brought a more cohesive overall structure to the proceedings. Listeners will still experience core Sunn O))) recording fundamentals, like being completely overwhelmed by massive sub-sonic death knell droning guitars. But with Black One SUNN O))) takes it ten steps below the others in an obsessed manner making the overall ambience of this album as bleak, crushing, and devoid of light as only they possibly could. As always, Sunn O)))'s mantra—“maximum volume yields maximum results”—holds true.