Sleep - Volume One (1991)

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Sleep - Volume One (1991)

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Sleep is yet another band that should be known to all fans of doom and stoner metal, but has sometimes been overshadowed by other juggernauts of the early 90s like Cathedral and Solitude Aeturnus. Sleep was formed in the early 90s by Al Cisneros, Chris Hakius, and Tom Choi and Volume One came out soon afterwards, showing that the band had a lot of talent when it came to creating the dark, melancholy atmospheres the stoner/doom genre is known for. The music does tend to go in a somewhat darker direction that earlier acts, with the foreboding growls and shrieks of Cisneros emphasized by thick, suffocating guitar riffs. For this reason the album can be difficult to take in all at once, but makes for an enjoyable listen nonetheless.
This is certainly not Sleep's best work in my opinion, but for a debut it is excellent. Thus began the band’s short but very influential career, creating the modern constructs of stoner doom that are still heard today in some form or another. This album is a bit darker than the band’s later work, and at times I find it difficult to listen to this whole album straight through. It’s definitely something I have to be in the right mood for. The slow, heavy riffs and relentless bass are not as easy to just sit back and relax to, but once you get into it it's difficult not to remember the roiling atmosphere of Sleep.

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Sleep - Volume One (1991)

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