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Sleep: Dopesmoker

19/11/09 || Khlysty

The name “Dopesmoker” had been haunting metal community for almost ten years. That was the name of the supposedly “lost” last record of Sleep, the band that took the early Sabbath canon, drenched it into THC and serious Orange Amps distortion, and unleashed it to the unsuspecting great unwashed. “Dopesmoker” slowly became a myth, an urban legend of total immersion in green buds, esoteric religious experience and orgiastic recording sessions, of crazy days and nights, when, bewildered by excessive ganja consumption and scared by their own musical vision, the band members were trying to get out of the labyrinthine musical monster they had created.

The release history of “Dopesmoker” alone is worthy the price of admission for Sleep’s tour-de-force and final recording. After “Holy Mountain” and its unexpected success, London Records offered the band a hefty amount to dough, so that Sleep would become part of its roster. The band accepted the offer, took the money, presumably bought king-size bongs, filled them with copious amounts of devilweed and entered the studio with Billy Anderson to record their next magnum opus. What came out of the sessions, though, was one song, lasting over one hour and change, which the band wanted to be released exactly as such.

London Records officials, after recovering from multiple aneurisms, declared the record “unmarketable” and demanded its trimming. Well, sure, out tenuous trio of dopeheads said, and returned after a while with a slightly shorter version of the one-hour-song record they had initially planned. You can guess the rest: the record company still said no way, Jose, the band kept to its guns and the record never so the light of day.

Never? Well, not exactly. In 1999 Rise Above released “Jerusalem”, a digitally edited and roughly cut version of the “Dopesmoker” sessions. It showed the potential, but not the whole picture. In it, one could hear what Sleep was aiming for, but the final, complete version remained elusive, while the band had already split in 1997.

But, come 2003, Tee Pee Records got the rights of it and, with the band’s blessings, released “Dopesmoker” in its supposedly “final” and “definitive” version (quotation marks do not express any doubt from my part…), with Arik Roper doing the artwork. The label released the record in CD and double-LP versions, adding at the end of the mountainous “Dopesmoker” a live version of the song “Sonic Titan”, which, if truth be told, doesn’t really add anything to the whole affair.

See, the epicenter of the record is the song “Dopesmoker”. This colossal compositional monster that became Sleep’s Holy Grail and –after lots of bitterness and rejection- their undoing. So, what one has to always have in mind is that this is not a three-gajillion-different-parts-glued-together-and-presented-as-a-whole song, but a proper, one-riff, one-hour-and-some-more song (henceforth the riff shall be called the Riff).

The Riff is not exactly the same throughout the whole of the song, but its basics are so…, well, so steady, as if the four to five power chords composing it were written in unbreakable granite, with one sole Commandment above them: “Thou shall not use any other chord, except those decreed as Proper and True for the Riff”. So, yeah, there are some changes over time, but those work only to underline the power and the glory of the Riff. And those who do not bow down and offer sacrifice, shall be smote by it.

It takes the band three minutes to establish the Riff, but when it does, when the drums come in… pure fucking bliss. And, while the track is pretty slow, Chris Hakius’ super-busy drumwork (I hereby pronounce him as the Right Royal Highness of Banging All Kinds of Shit out of His Toms and Cymbals and Stuff) gives it a constant sense of forward movement, of evolution, of change, even if the guitar-bass snarling schemata are as unchanging as fucking eternity.

The vocals come eight minutes in, with bassist’s Al Cisneros’ raspy howl telling –mucho elliptically- the story of the people of Weedian and their quest for the riff-filled land (I remember once, being totally smashed and watching “Eric The Viking” on video. Believe me, it was exactly like listening to “Dopesmoker”’s lyrics…). His vocals come and go, in carefully arranged intervals, while the Riff slowly reconfigures itself, becoming more intricate, becoming more bones-and-gristle, BUT BASICALLY STAYING THE SAME ALL THE TIME!!! FOR SIXTY-FUCKING-THREE MINUTES AND SOME FUCKING SECONDS!!! Even when guitar warrior-hero-outlaw Matt Pike erupts into one of his trademark emotive solos, THE RIFF STAYS THE SAME, ONLY IT’S BEING PLAYED ONLY BY THE BASS AND THE FUCKING DRUMS!!!

And this observation brings me to another point that I would like to make clear to you, because I think that this is the crux of the matter: the whole recording gives the impression of having been done in only one take. I don’t know if that’s true or not and, quite frankly, I don’t give a flying fuck. This shit sounds as if the band was slowly, carefully, painstakingly planning it, composing it and rehearsing it for months and months and, after everyone was, like, TOTALLY ready, in the most Zen essence of the word, they just entered the studio, did the soundcheck, Billy Anderson pressed “rec” and they did it in one take. Just like that.

Sixty-three minutes worth of music recorded in real time, with minimal to zero overdubbing. I mean, when Pike soloes his heart out, the rhythm guitar part disappears, leaving Hakius and Cisneros to deal with the Riff. His crunchy guitar sounds comes back only AFTER he finishes soloing. OK, maybe I’m talking shit here, but, hey, think about it: the monolithic dedication, the infinite patience, the idiot-savant brilliance of the endeavor,… you think that one take recording is out of the question?

So, the bottom line is that this is the quintessential “difficult” record. It demands patience, attention and careful approach by those who consider themselves worthy of trying their hand on it. Also, at least on paper, it sounds mighty boring, which, of course it ain’t. It’s just… is: a super-ambitious, half-crazy, half-genius approach towards stoner/doom metal. The fact that Sleep pulled it off is a kind of a miracle. The fact that this shit is –at least to me- one of the best thing recorded ever is proof positive that inspiration, devilweed and unwavering dedication to the Riff can be miraculous, even if most of the people won’t get it. Now, the question is: are you ready to get it?…

Information
Released: 2003
Label: Tee Pee Records
Website: Sleep MySpace
Band
Matt Pike: guitar
Chris Hakius: drums
Al Cisneros: bass, vocals

Tracklist
01. Dopesmoker
02. Sonic Titan

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