Never was an album more aptly named and never did a band have more contempt for their own career than Sleep. The history is well told: the sludgiest, freak-flag-flyingest stoner-rock band ever inexplicably gets signed to London for a huge advance. Sleep doesn't turn in any of the mildly accessible Sabbath-ian doomcore they'd been peddling for years. They turn in Dopesmoker, an hour-long din of dissonance, hazy heaviness and plodding mysticism. It was -- and is -- absolutely brilliant, and is perhaps the least commercial album ever submitted to a major label for release. Of course, London freaked and demanded the band alter the content. Sleep's response: "Screw you, we're breaking up." "Awesome." Anyway, after years of listening to the available inferior, edited version, the full impact of "Dopesmoker" is finally available for inhalation. Dig it.
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