Best of 2009 (songs) #4 Sunn 0))) - Alice

For Sunn 0)))'s fitting tribute to jazz legend Alice Coltrane, the band tapped into the same spiritual transcendence that Coltrane's music delivered. Beginning at the bottom of Mt. Doom, which Sunn 0))) helped build, slowly but surely "Alice" crawls its way toward the heavens. Sun Ra's trombonist Julian Priester pushes the song further outward and upward into the universe before stealing it completely from the black robed guitar gods. The song ends with slight harps, denoting Coltrane's instrument of choice, and Priester's legendary horn echoing out through the cosmos. I have often argued that doom metal has a transcendental quality about it, but who knew it could be this stunningly beautiful as well? Listen here.