Great Music While High: Sleep

WARNING: This is a Geek Out.

Sleep, comprised of Al Cisneros (OM, Shrinebuilder, Asbestosdeath), Matt Pike (High On Fire, Scum Angel, Kala) and newcomer Jason Roeder (Neurosis) recently added a highly anticipated new track to their long list of classic stoner/doom metal background.

The Clarity is being released by Adult Swim on their new Singles Series, also featuring some great tracks from bands such as Deafheaven, Speedy Ortiz, Tim Hecker, and Run With the Jewels.

The Clarity starts with a heavenly distorted, fading in bass riff provided by Cisneros. Roeder strikes a brilliant, heavy hitting start on the track showing his intensity and ferocity is well matched to that which Chris Haikus (previous drummer for Sleep) left behind. The style Sleep seems to be going for is much more in the vein of OM than previous works. From the heavily distorted, repetitive bass riffs, to Cisneros’s drone, monotone vocals. This is not a bad thing at all. After all, Cisneros and Roeder have been touring and working on OM in the wake of Sleeps hiatus some 10 years ago.

After some five minutes of smoke filled jamming, Pike lets his presence be known in a huge way. A bellowing minute and a half guitar solo that sends you into the cosmos with a huge smile. Transitioning into the closer with such elegance that it’s hard to even tell. Lyrically, The Clarity bears a shocking familiarity to Sleep’s last endeavor, Dopesmoker. The almost two hour track that proved to be quite the legal nightmare and put Sleep on hiatus.

All in all, it may not have been exactly what the die hard fans were expecting, but The Clarity certainly did not disappoint. Clocking in at 9 minutes and 51 seconds, it is a great return for one of the greatest stoner metal bands to follow in Black Sabbath’s footsteps. You can find it on Adult Swim’s site along with the other tracks being released on the Singles Series. Hit play, turn the volume up, and let the distortion bring you into an all-new cosmic adventure that fans have been waiting almost a decade for.