The heavy metal trio from California surprised listeners with a new album release after a 20 year hiatus. The group themselves even stated in an interview with NPR in 2014 that they doubted they would record again after the copious legal issues of their 1998 album “Dopesmoker”, but they did say if they were to release a new album it would be an “amalgamated effort of decades of riff immersion.”
If there was a day that the band would release new content on it would be on the 20th of April, which is a known holiday for cannabis consumers as a day to celebrate marijuana. The band is infamous for their enjoyment of the consumption of cannabis.
The album starts with three minutes of sporadic guitar riffs layered with radio fuzz as the lead guitarist Matt Pike jams out a tune that invites the listener into the depths of the album.
Outside of the opening track we get five, five to 15 minute epics featuring grand guitar sprees, aggressive drums, and energetic vocals.
The waves of guitar riffs, drums, and bass resonates with their aggressive sound that provides an experience that can be described as nothing else but encompassing as the album envelopes you with its sound.
Sleep uses lyrics sparingly with only a few lines on a couple of the songs but spare no expense in other elements of their sound. The mixing and sound design are immaculate as nothing sounds over or underbalanced.
Overall this album is loud, heavy, aggressive, and everything else you could want from a heavy metal album, even though it’s been 20 years since that last Sleep release it feels as if they haven’t missed a step.
