If Black Sabbath were from 1990s Los Angeles instead of 1960s Birmingham, this is how they would've sounded. Sleep, a psychedelic stoner metal band, rose to prominence during the surge of stoner metal bands in the early 1990s. But Sleep are a little different to other bands, for example, before Sleep recorded their second album Holy Mountain, one of the members left to band to become a monk and moved to a deserted island in Alaska. Whilst only a three piece band they manage to make a LOT of noise. The vintage fuzzy bass drives the sound through hard and harder riffs. This is heavy stuff, not for the faint-hearted. The endless droning and thumping makes you long for the relief of 'Some Grass', a bluegrass tune quite out of character given the rest of the album but the change of pace makes all the difference.
The album is based on the 1973 Alejandro Jodorwsky film of the same name, a legendary cult film about the meaning of life and everything else. The dark tone set by the film is equally matched by the epic ambitions of Sleep. The lyrics and vocals sound as if they are ancient chants over the hard, crashing rhythm. The first track, 'Dragonaut', is a perfect example of psychedelic music at its best. Holy Mountain is a classic psychedelic metal album with a really unique quality and sound.
Label: Earache Records/Kreation Records
Tracklist:
1. Dragonaut
2. The Druid
3. Evil Gypsy/Solomon's Theme
4. Some Grass
5. Aquarian
6. Holy Mountain
7. Inside The Sun
8. From Beyond
9. Nain's Baptism
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