SLEEP — Dopesmoker (review)

SLEEP — Dopesmoker album cover Album · 2003 · Stoner Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
This audacious doom metal classic was previously released in a truncated form as Jerusalem, and there were a couple of extremely rare bootleg and promo releases preceding that; according to the band, no version which exist is quite identical to the one they submitted to their label for release, but this is the one which comes the closest. The title track, an hour long ode to weed which compares the experience of the drug with a holy pilgrimage and exhorts the listener to "drop out of life with bong in hand", takes the premises of stoner doom to an absolutely lunatic extreme, and does so whilst laying down some of the heaviest and slowest riffs ever recorded outside of full-on drone doom.

It'd an ambitious experiment, but it actually works - and you don't have to toke up to enjoy it. The slow, hypnotic pace of the track really does work best when it unfolds over the full hour, and the inclusion of the live track Sonic Titan as a little bonus at the end of the disc is the cherry on the cake. It's a shame that their record label, after hyping up the creative freedom they would have, balked at releasing this album for so long; unlike many legendary "lost albums", this one really does live up to its reputation as the band's best and most iconic work.
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