| View Larger Image | Dopesmoker | Audio CDby Sleep
| List Price: | $16.98 | |
| | Binding: | Audio CD | | Format: | Original recording remastered | | Studio: | Tee Pee Records | | Release Date: | June 10, 2003 | | Sales Rank: | 38,415th |
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TRACK LISTING |
Disc: 1
- Track 1: Dopesmoker
- Track 2: Sonic Titan
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Amazon.com
While pundits often seem eager to throw the adjective "uncompromising" at any rock musician with more than three nipple-rings, what we have here is the real deal. After haphazardly embarking on their intensely single-minded career in the late-'80s, Northern California's pioneering prophets of doom-metal took the opportunity of a '90s major-label advance to record a 63-plus-minute magnum opus to ganja and other Valhalla-friendly political conceits that effectively cost them same promising record deal and embroiled them in enough turmoil to permanently splinter the band. Cut by nearly a dozen minutes, the track eventually surfaced in ‘99 to some critical acclaim as "Jerusalem." But now, sounding like a hung-over Thor awakening from a three-century bender, the original hour-plus "Dopesmoker" returns to stake its claim as the heaviest, if minimally expansive metal dirge of them all, with founder/vocalist Al Cisneros's massive bass drone and tortured growl making for a hypnotic, if harrowing, listening experience. This new edition also includes the previously unreleased, live-in-the-studio "Sonic Titan," a comparatively upbeat drone that breezes in at just under 10 minutes. --Jerry McCulley |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 30 reviews)
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GOOD TIMES WITH SLEEP by SATANIKVNT (Oslo,Norway,)  5 Stars
June 16, 2009
ah those were the days i used to come home from school and me and my stoner buddies would listen to doom metal. This was the album we played the most i still treasure my worn out cd of this with bud stains. Now a am a uni student and this is still a cheery recored to me and my stoner buddies.
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Just what we needed, a longer Jerusalem! by Gary Davis (Culver City (Los Angeles), CA)  4 Stars
April 21, 2009
Having just heard the 52-minute Jerusalem version on XM Radio, my first thoughts were, "If only there was a longer version to give me a chance to really get into it." And as if my prayers were answered, a 63-minute version.
But what I was really hoping for was like a 24-hour version with even less variety... just kidding... give me Master of Puppets any day!
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Massive by eternal now (mankato) 5 Stars
March 25, 2009
Dopesmoker is heavy, in the heaviest way possible. And its very, very long, epic and definitely an 'experience' that is more than just a regular record. Those with short attention spans should stay away from this record.
The title track, 'Dopesmoker' is a 63 minute journey through a mystical land where people worship weed. Yup. The lyrics are about a weed-quest. While the storyline may be a little hokey to some, its delivered in such an epic and doom metal laden way, that its undeniably enjoyable; the perma-baked crowd will certainly find a new religion here.
As it is, 'Dopesmoker' will be a very hard album for some to enjoy as there is much repetition. Some riffs go on for as long as 6 minutes, and the entirely sober crowd may find it a bit pretentious and boring. However, if you can stick with it and withstand the pummeling riffs you will find much to love. The drums are always epic, crashing and very heavy. The bass is low, rumbling and placed at the front of mix, where it should be. The vocals are a hoarse wail, barely audible. While the riffs can get repetitive, solos are abundant and executed perfectly.
Sleep aren't the kind of band that make the most technical or creative music, but it sure is heavy and interesting, and if you're in an altered state prepare to lift off to another dimension. That's what its all about here, altered states and long journey's.
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music for sannyasins of the modern era by a customer (earth) 5 Stars
December 12, 2008
... Dopesmoker is a challenging album for many reasons ...
... It's not just something you put on to kill time for a few minutes ...
... It's something you have to be immersed in and surrendered to ...
... In the right setting, it's nothing short of a "religious" experience ...
... You don't have to be high to enjoy it, but it makes all the difference if you are ...
... The lyrics, which some people feel are "silly", paint a vivid scene, and are chanted with such force that you cannot help but become a believer ...
... It's like hearing Muhammad chant the Qur'an for the first time, or hearing a monastery full of monks gravely reciting Buddhist sutras ...
... For me, this is the highest peak that "rock", "metal", "stoner-rock", whatever, - can reach ...
... It's meditative, trance-inducing, mystical ... goes beyond conventional limitations that idiots mindlessly follow regarding what music should be ...
... A certain type of mind is required for this. Lots of people will not "get it" ...
... Those that do "get it", know it to be one of the most refreshing, cleansing, engrossing, inspiring, deep listening experiences available ...
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Epic, god-like heaviness by Spacekase (Denver, CO) 5 Stars
September 06, 2008
Quite simply, this album is for me the definitive example of stoner rock. Sleep really managed to transcend all the limitations of the genre with this album by magnifying and stretching stoner rock/metal's elements to an extreme rarely ever attempted, let alone achieved with this much success.
Be warned: this album is not for the casual metal fan. It is repetitive, droning and it unfolds at a glacial pace. The vocals are sung in a hoarse monotone and the lyrics can be ridiculously over the top: "Drop out of life with bong in hand / follow pot smoke toward the riff filled land".
But somehow, Sleep managed to take these elements and turn them into a bona fide masterpiece. The length of the song actually works in its favor -- there is simply no other way that these fuzzed out, C-tuned riffs, played at unbelievably slow, heavy tempos, could otherwise be developed the way they deserve to be. The band plays together with supernatural chemistry, grasping the sprawling changes with precision. There are also excellent uses of dynamics utilizing stops and starts and changes in volume, and a few cosmic solos from Matt Pike, too.
And about those silly lyrics: I suppose there is an element of humor to them, but the way they are delivered by Cisneros and the roiling power of the band backing him up manages to transcend any campiness. By the end of the record you aren't laughing at the words and the story they tell, but getting ready to rid yourself of all worldly posessions to join the procession of "weedians" on their long journey to Nazareth. It's a neat trick, to be able to use that sort of comic-book imagery to preach a quite sincere religion of marijuana use. Only Sleep has really been able to pull it off this well in the metal world.
Yes, like the title of the record and the lyrics certainly imply, this is a great album for doing a few bong hits and zoning out on the deep spaces and mountanous riffs. Sleep weren't just unshy about promoting pot smoking, cannabis worship was very nearly the band's entire reason for existing in the first place. It's a record by and for pot heads, obviously.
But you don't need to be high to enjoy this. The musicianship alone makes it worth hearing, and the gloriously fuzzed-out, detuned guitars are every metalhead's wet dream. I have listened dozens times to this record. While it's too demanding a listen to be the sort of CD you would would want on heavy rotation, I find myself pulling it out every few months and giving it another spin when I want to truly get lost in titanic riffs for an hour or so.
An essential album for any fan of heavy music, and one of the best metal albums ever. Hard to beat.
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