*NOTE* If You have already been to this post since it's original publishing in May 2013 then you should read anything written in yellow and then skip to where it says *UPDATE* if you are here for the first time then please, read on. A band like Sleep should need no introduction especially with their recent touring and mighty remastered version of 'Dopesmoker' last year.

If you didn't know here's a quick history Sleep started off as brutal sludgy crust band Asbestosdeath who released 2 x 7' singles they then evolved into Sleep, doing their debut album 'Volume One' in 1991 which was not a million miles away from what they had done in Asbestosdeath (3 of the 4 tracks from the Asbestosdeath 7's are re-done for 'Volume One') they then recorded a second album of all new material which they shopped around labels for a release, a tape of it found it's way to Earache records with this letter. Earache saw the potential and signed them. The subsequent 'Holy Mountain' album was a radical departure from 'Volume One' and pretty much invented the 'Stoner Rock' genre. After the success of this album Sleep decided to sign with major label London records and for their London Records debut to record the now legendary 1 hour plus epic that was 3rd album 'Dopesmoker'!

Apr 15, 2015 - Sleep - (2003) Dopesmoker. Genero: Stoner/Doom 1.Dopesmoker 01:03:31 2.Sonic Titan (live) 09:36. Publicado por Bister Mungle.

Exec's from major labels aren't known for their open mindedness and immediately balked at being presented with a concept album of 1 track an hour long the main theme being weed smoking (unlike today this was not the most acceptable or commonplace activity in 1995!) The band and label butted heads severely, the band refusing to change or alter the album and the label refusing to release it! Asbestosdeath 7's 'Dejection' & 'Unclean' these were released one by Profane Existence and the other by the band themselves in 1990 and are 4 tracks of slow, crawling sludgy stuff reminiscent of Dystopia but if you listen carefully you can hear that trademark classic Matt Pike riffing in there underneath the sludge! And as i said before 3 of the 4 tracks were re-recorded for the Sleep debut album 'Volume One' These 2 x 7's were collected together on one CD by Southern lord this file is taken from my CD 320kbps. Sleep's Holy Mountain I first heard Sleep in 1992 on the Earache records cassette comp 'Naive' which was a showcase for all the non Grind/death metal bands that had releases out or coming out on Earache and featured bands like Clutch, Fudge Tunnel, Scorn, Pitch Shifter and of course Sleep I was already aware of a few of the bands but when i got to the Sleep track 'Dragonaut' (Subsequently the opening track on 'Holy Mountain') I was utterly floored this was utter Sabbath worship given a 90's twist and made even heavier!!!

(Ozzy Osbourne himself is quoted as saying when he heard Sleep out of all the bands that are influenced by Sabbath, Sleep were the closest in sound and feel) I had been a fan of Early Sabbath for a while then and had exhausted those first 6 Sab's albums so this came along at a perfect time for me! Though there is no denying the Sabbath influence Sleep are not too derivative, they have the sound and feel as Ozzy says but they are not straight off ripping Sabbath off for a start this is way heavier in sound and production and riffs like the Monster intro to track 2 'The Druid' are so utterly fucking amazing it just makes me go arrrgggggghhhhhh! This predates the legion of Sabbath pilfering and weak stoner rock that's around these days by almost a decade like I say this album practically invented the style there was NO ONE else doing this type of music in 1992 and there has been no one yet from the stoner genre that has recorded ANYTHING in the same league as this album it's an utter masterpiece! (320kbps Reissue version with 'Snowblind' from the Earache 'Masters of Misery' Sabbath tribute as a bonus track). Dopesmoker I've already gave you the history of this album and about how it never saw release till 1999 (in altered form) years after the band broke up after originally recording it in 1993.However is this the absolute pinnacle of a short lived career by the band who invented stoner rock? Msn version 7.0. Formula ventures home gym manuals. Hmm it's a good album no mistake and theres titanic fucking walls of riffage by the dumper truck load but i think it may have been a little ambitious because i don't think there's enough to it to keep me completely involved for a whole hour the main riff to the song is a theme throughout and mighty a riff as it might be.