Review by Chris Van Etten for Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992)

“Sleep’s Holy Mountain” is the definitive Stoner Metal LP. There’s no weak spots, no flaws. Even the short acoustic instrumental works as a palette cleanser, and the sparse, minimalist moments just add to the dynamics which amplify the power of the loud parts, which of course fuel the album. All the elements are here: the Sabbath worship, the jamming, the ungodly sick bass tones, the (mostly) glacial tempos, the sage-like vocals, etc. This is the record to play for the Greys when they finally reveal themselves. Okay, getting into the details. First, the Sabbath influence. The main riff of “The Druid” is fairly similar to “Supernaut,” but rather than blend it in and make it indistinguishable, the riff is matched by a high-hat, just like the Sabbath song. Sleep can wear  the influence on their sleeve because they don’t totally rely on it. So the jamming... yeah, it’s all over the fucking place. I’ m not necessarily a sucker for that sort of thing, but with Sleep, it’s comparable to the improvisations on a jazz record. I wish I could think of a better way to phrase this, but it takes  you somewhere. Al Cisneros is an insanely good bassist. I can’t think of anyone who can play this loosely while still being completely locked in (not that Matt Pike and Chris Hakius are slouches by any means). Sleep manage to cover a lot of ground while remaining firmly in the Stoner Metal spectrum (and it’s Stoner, NOT Doom, because it’s not depressing, the style of the vocals, and of course, the jams, etc). “From Beyond” is cold and authoritative, 10 minutes which don’t drag. On the other hand, “Aquarian” is way more jovial and “Evil Gypsy” is just brutal.  My favorite track is probably “Inside the Sun,” which starts with a crude punk beat before collapsing into sludge and ultimately erupting into a Melvins style shout chorus. One more thing I want to mention is,  because the record was originally intended as a demo, it’s fairly raw. That being said, it adds to the organic nature, making you feel like you’re in the room the band. It just sounds REAL. I was pretty late to the party  in giving this record a full listen, which I regret, but the benefit to that is, even having heard dozens of records that have followed in its path, I can comfortably say that “Sleep’s Holy Mountain” is the head motherfucker of them all.