Review Summary: An underground metal classic
The year is 1992. Three stoners by the names of Matt Pike, Al Cisneros, and Chris Hakius release a record entitled Sleep's Holy Mountain. Releasing a record that sounds like the missing golden age Black Sabbath album in a time where the metal world embraced technicality, and music that sounded very un-Sabbathy to say the least. Little would they know that almost all slow, stoner doom groups from that point onward would take influence from the Sleep formula. If you want to hear tight riffing and precise solos, you're out of luck here. This album is a mess, and I'm not saying that in a bad way. Cisneros's vocals aren't exactly easy to listen to, and the songs are as slow and sludgy as you can get. But it all somehow works, and as a result you get one of the most, if not, the most influential stoner rock record of all time.
The trip through Sleep's Holy Mountain begins with slowly creeping riff of "Dragonaut". It is my belief that most stoner/doom music works on the "Into the Void" formula, named after the Black Sabbath song of course. "Dragonaut" takes it cues straight from that pioneering Sabbath tune, starting off with a minute or so of jamming on that slow riff, before it explodes into a heavily fuzzed out marching riff, which sets the tone for the rest of the song. We're now introduced to Cisneros's stoned, hazy vocal stylings. His voice floats over the fuzzed out pit of guitars like weed smoke, spinning lines about riding dragons into space. The number of bong hits these guys took throughout the recording of this album seems to increase as the album continues, becoming slower and hazier as it goes along.
"Druid" begins with another wonderful excercise in neo-Sabbathism, as Pike conjures up a riff that sounds like a lost Tony Iommi riff. Cisneros's bass playing wanders around as the death march of the main riff is held in rhythm by Hakius's steady drum beats. Cisneros's phased vocals float in and out of the mix, creating a wonderfully stoned effect. Beware now, because the rest of the trip through Sleep's Holy Mountain becomes as slow, hazy, and fuzzed out as you can imagine. The only break from the relentless death march is the aptly titled instrumental "Some Grass", a shameless marijuana reference but a double entendre due to Pike's pretty decent bluegrass guitar playing. The next 5 tracks are a make up the most plodding, trippy material of the whole album. Cisneros's mythical lyrical portraits (if you can understand what he's saying) extend from the tale of escaping the underwater city of Atlantis in "Aquarian" to the story of ill-fated space men travelling to the sun in "Inside the Sun".
There you have it, the interesting work of art that is Sleep's Holy Mountain. Its Sabbath-like vibes, fuzzed out spectrum of guitars, and the just the overall stoned atmosphere makes it quite an interesting listen. If you're looking to escape reality for a little bit, it wouldn't hurt to take a trip down Sleep' Holy Mountain.
