SLEEP — Dopesmoker (review)

Album · 2003 · Stoner Metal

3.5/5 · 2012-05-22
Time Signature

Sonic titan...

Genre: doom metal

With a band name like Sleep and an album title like Dopesmoker any connoisseur of doom metal – even if he or she was unfamiliar with Sleep – would be able to infer that this release contains music that probably fits very well into the stoner doom genre.

And, lo and behold, it does. Containing one track only (plus a very badly produced 11 minutes long live bonus track), which clocks in at 63 minutes (and, according to the promo material, has quite a history of writing, label rejection, rewriting, more rejection, renaming, rewriting, shelving etc.), Dopesmoker takes the listener on a journoey through a landscape of slow and heavy riffs, crunchy guitars, heavy but dynamic drums, and a big, fat, round bass, all of which is shrouded in a thick cloud of hashish-infused intervert atmosphere. The main source of inspiration – and the nearest comparable artists – appear to be early Black Sabbath, Pentagram and Saint Vitus (Sleep even make used of Iommi-styled double guitar blues-based solos).

Needless to say, 63 minutes of pure stoner doom is somewhat of a challenge to the uninitiated, and I can imagine that even some seasoned doom metal fans will need to just pause the album for a couple of minutes at the time. However, while the uninitiated may find this album monotonous and boring, people who understand doom metal will ultimately be able to appreciate the subtleties in variation and Sleep's use of heavy doom-laden riffs and the power of variation. In other words, all the aesthetics that define quality doom metal are there.

Seasoned fans of doom, stoner and sludge metal should definitely check out Sleep's Dopesmoker, but if you are new to the doom metal genre, you should probably save the release for later and go for some less dense and hypnotic releases. In any case, Dopesmoker is dark and heavy and strikes a perfect balance between the darkness of doom metal and the psychedelia of stoner rock.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

With a new High on Fire album out I´m pretty sure Pike will concentrate on that act for a while into the future. I sure hope they´ll make it to Denmark.

Warthur wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Pike went to High On Fire, the other two became Om, and they've reformed and played some shows.

The show had no sign of new material aside from Sonic Titan, which they played before the split and appears as a bonus on some versions of Dopesmoker, so no sign of them having sufficient material for a new album yet.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It´s only Pike that went on to High on Fire as far as I remember. They´ve recently re-united to play some shows. I´m not sure they´ll record again.

Tupan wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wait, Sleep still exists? They not changed their name to High on Fire?

Warthur wrote:

more than 2 years ago

In the end they started off with half an hour of Dopesmoker, then did Sonic Titan and some songs from Holy Mountain, and then did a Dopesmoker coda. I think that's a fair compromise.

The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It live could be cool if you were in the right state of mind *cough*
In fact I think I could dig this album as pretty sweet background music in certain situations
hey oh!

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It could be Dopesmoker in full since they've just rereleased it (the new cover artwork, by the way, is awesome).

Warthur wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Apparently they do play a mildly shorter version live.

Then again they have a 1 hour set when I see them this Friday and I am hoping against hope that it'll just consist of Dopesmoker in full.

The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Even to the initiated!
I'm not the biggest fan of doom metal, but I do like it tons and even for me Dopesmoker was a bit much lol
Though I guess that's precisely what you said may happen, well done! It's a good review man.

While I can't listen to it in its entirety the solos are definitely pretty sweet.
I need a condensed version...maybe 12 minutes long, with the solos and some of the main riff and this would be an epic song! lol