New Sleep record chit chat

[Iommic Pope]

Third man were taking orders yesterday, hopefully there are still some left.
I sure got mine.

[BitchPudding]

My store is getting copies in on Monday. I'm gonna cop one then. Hopefully we get the alt art versions in.

[Muff_Diver]

Yo, am I the only one who was totally let down by this record? The lyrics are corny af; I get it, you smoke. The riffs are obtuse and forgettable. Production is fine, but I'm left unmoved and disappointed.

[MechaGodzilla]

Yo, am I the only one who was totally let down by this record? The lyrics are corny af; I get it, you smoke. The riffs are obtuse and forgettable. Production is fine, but I'm left unmoved and disappointed.

Yeah the lyrics are extremely blunt, not on a level with the stoner poetry of the older stuff.

There was one track in particular (can't remember which, 3rd/4th one) where I was aching for them to mix up the riff just once with a harmony or counter melody or something and they just didn't. I guess that ain't the drone way

[BitchPudding]

ha you said blunt

But i mean, its a sleep record. Isnt their whole thing droney repetitiveness? Thats literally all dopesmoker is to a degree.

And no insults to Al, but no one listens to sleep for the lyrics.

[Kacey Y]

Yo, am I the only one who was totally let down by this record? The lyrics are corny af; I get it, you smoke. The riffs are obtuse and forgettable. Production is fine, but I'm left unmoved and disappointed.

I haven't posted here or anywhere else I would normally chime in on a record release like this, for this reason. I don't want to shit in everyone's cereal. I don't think it sounds bad, but this doesn't sound like something that had a lot of thought and effort put into it. It seems a lot like the Star Wars prequels to me. Something the creator(s) hyped was in the making forever, but really just banged out really fast and then produced very professionally. It sounds ok, but nothing about it is particularly inspiring or mind blowing to me and I keep seeing people rave about it. This is probably the worst thing I could say, but it sounds like every stoner/doom jam I had from 2000-2005 and went "damn, that sounds cool!" and then didn't record it or turn it into a full band. It sounds very much like what it's supposed to be, but I feel like 20 different bands of varying levels of talent, skill and fame could have made the same album and gotten different reactions from the same people who are praising it as the Sleep comeback album. The weed puns are kind of grating to me, as they never really seemed like that kind of band when they were originally active. They've obviously leaned way into it since the band's popularity has increased posthumously over the years (most notably re-releasing Jerusalem as DOPESMOKER and all that, no hate) and then they started releasing new merch that was all pot leaf centric (and astronauts) and I always thought of them as kind of the more bay area punk version of 70's Sabbath in music and designs, but they seemed to have just taken Bongzilla's place as the weed reference/pun band now.

No insults intended and I certainly don't want to detract from anyone else's enjoyment of it. I would certainly rather get 20 albums that sound like this than 1 of anything I flat out dislike.

[Jwar]

I'm still waiting for the full album to get uploaded to make a decision on what I think. The riffs sound good from what I heard but are they the best? Nah. It's Sleep though, not Om.

[Kacey Y]

ha you said blunt

But i mean, its a sleep record. Isnt their whole thing droney repetitiveness? Thats literally all dopesmoker is to a degree.

And no insults to Al, but no one listens to sleep for the lyrics.

Agreed on the lyrics (and the vocals, I prefer Pike's in HOF honestly). I will say though, as someone who started listening to Sleep in the 90's, I only really saw that become their reputation after they broke up. Dopesmoker came out WAY after they broke up. I had Jerusalem, the edited version of it in the early 2000's and even at that time I was kind of like "Ehh, this isn't really why I buy a Sleep album, but ok". Then it gained this mythic status among people as the Stoner/Doom scene started to kind of blow up more online. Then they cashed in on the hype released Dopesmoker in full, with new artwork and all this stuff and I gather that A LOT of Sleep fans became fans from that point on and they've leaned heavily into that sort of thing since. Clearly it's Al's genuine passion, as that is very much what OM has been like since the start. The other iconic track from Sleep is Dragonaut, which isn't really anything like that post Dopesmoker aesthetic/sound/theme.

[Muff_Diver]

I always thought of them as kind of the more bay area punk version of 70's Sabbath in music and designs, but they seemed to have just taken Bongzilla's place as the weed reference/pun band now.

This x100. Where is the Sabbath?
Its definitely the byproduct of self awareness. The past 10 years have churned out this caricature which they've come to embrace.

JWAR- Its all on youtube. Id imagine there's a full stream still hosted on some music site.

[Kacey Y]

Its definitely the byproduct of self awareness. The past 10 years have churned out this caricature which they've come to embrace.

I agree with this.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I always thought of them as kind of the more bay area punk version of 70's Sabbath in music and designs, but they seemed to have just taken Bongzilla's place as the weed reference/pun band now.

This x100. Where is the Sabbath?
Its definitely the byproduct of self awareness. The past 10 years have churned out this caricature which they've come to embrace.

JWAR- Its all on youtube. Id imagine there's a full stream still hosted on some music site.

Also on spotify.

On it being a bit of a caricature, yeah pretty much but it sounds fairly good. I'm still much more a fan of Om and High on Fire than Sleep generally, but this hits some of that Om thing. The lyrics are... very dumb. But they're kind of hard to hear so I can live with it. Like someone else said nobody was ever listening to this band for the lyrics.


Signed- a very not-OG relatively recent fan.

[Kacey Y]

I'll totally cop to the majority of my opinions on this album boiling down to "Wah, this is not the band I liked 20 years ago".

[jrfox92]

Hey, I wanted a place to complain about Third Man Records and their shit handling of selling their split colored records.

Also, yeah. The record sounds like a typical, "we're in a doom band and made a record in half an hour after smoking a ton of pot" album.

[Kacey Y]

Also, yeah. The record sounds like a typical, "we're in a doom band and made a record in half an hour after smoking a ton of pot" album.

It's a 6 track album, with a guitar noise intro track and two tracks that they've been playing live (and had some live recordings of) since 2009.

[infamousalien]

(most notably re-releasing Jerusalem as DOPESMOKER and all that, no hate) and then they started releasing new merch that was all pot leaf

They had always intended to release it as one hour long song it was just their first label wouldn't let them. They do sell a fuck ton of weed themed merch though. I was at a fest they were playing and a huge line that wrapped around inside the building spontaneously formed and we were trying to figure out why. Turns out Sleep's merch booth had just opened.

The weed puns are kind of grating to me,

The only song I find with bad weed puns is Giza Butler but I think it's supposed to be more of a "fun" song. I've been known to enjoy puns, good or bad haha.

Not trying to diminish or invaildate your opinion at all though. I can see where you're coming from. I really like the album though. I think it has Matt Pike's best solos.

Hey, I wanted a place to complain about Third Man Records and their shit handling of selling their split colored records..

I guess I'm lucky I live near Third Man Records and picked it up right from the store then.