helterskelter.ca

SLEEP
more SLEEP.
way more Helter Skelter.

November 1, 1992 - 2022: 30 years of: Sleep's Holy Mountain.

*cough - cough - cough*

If BLACK SABBATH's 1971 Sweet Leaf didn't make it official, let's make it obvious. Call this the neo early-nineties counterculture effect. In a shape-changing 1991-92 scene, one band reanimated the dark mood vibe of heavyrock as they climbed up the holy mountain, this is SLEEP.

The bluesy guitar-tone riff sets the pace and then a massive wall of bricks falls into the arena. Pounding drums and the overdriven-bass rocks the house hard, as the "Dragonaut" flies high above. Track #2 is as loud and defying, as "The Druid" brings heavyrock knowledge to this new generation, diametrically opposed to the closing-track "Nain's Baptism" ...a spaced-out instrumental jam.

Time for "Some Grass" ...a nod to LYNYRD SKYNYRD.

Do no derange the "Evil Gypsy" as he prepares his potion surrounded by this misty haze. More deadly-tuned doom oozes from the 8:44sec title-track "Holy Mountain", an avalanche of heaviness and despair, while hip vibes are felt on the fast-paced "Inside The Sun", an obvious reference to BLACK SABBATH's mammoth-track "Into The Void".

Engulfed between MTV-Charting grunge or hyperspeed deathmetal, SLEEP was the perfect antidote to this new-school, while ironically using old-school techniques and equipment. This second CD sat the groove for the upcoming stone-rock / sludge movement of the mid 90s.

This heavy trio would once again break the modus-operandi of traditions with their 1996, released in 1999 Jerusalem one-track 52min CD. A Stonehenge in the doomrock scene ...AKA the Dopesmoker CD properly re-released in 2003.

*
Dragonaut = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMIS2BaDilY
Sleep's Holy Mountain = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OWwgGYhsBs&list=PL6_qhP3eWX5PvNkVrVpNb4QjVpTOz9yBC
Live in San Diego in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt8aKL8p6jM

more SLEEP:

Alternative-Metal 1992