With their black robes and impossibly foggy live shows, drone-metal duo Sunn O))) could be mistaken for a parody, if they didn't make music that heaves with the intensity of a contemplative Deathlord. We called their last solo studio album, Black One, a "doom'n'gloom masterpiece," so our excitement over the follow-up is understandable.Monoliths & Dimensions is due in late May on Southern Lord, according to an official blog post. Instrumentation includes upright bass, French and English horns, harp, flute, piano, brass, and strings-- this is going to be the most Sufjan-y Sunn album yet! (Though the album announcement explicitly states that Monoliths is not "metal meets orchestra.")And the guest list is heavy: Mayhem's Attila Csihar, composer-violinist-tuba player Eyvind Kang, experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi, Earth's Dylan Carlson, one-time Sun Ra and John Coltrane collaborator Julian Priester, and a Viennese women's choir. It will rule.The band is also planning a few shows, at which they will turn your insides into purified mulch. On many dates, the main Sunn O))) duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson will recreate their 1998 debut, The GrimmRobe Demos, in its entirety. According to a post on the Southern Lord blog, the performances will "be a return to their primal origins, an approach respecting a zen concept of shoshin, the beginner's mind, the yet undyed pure wool, the clarity in initiation upon the untraveled." Translation: Perfect first-date material!At Tokyo's Leave Them All Behind Festival, the duo will team with Boris's Atsuo for an "exclusive special arrangement." If you dare:read more