Customer Reviews

Sleep's Holy Mountian

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For all the Black Sabbath fans who loved Master Of Reality, this is for you. All the songs are groove-heavy stoner jams with some brilliant riffs. Dragonaut sounds like Sabbath circa 1971. Get this now if you love old-school doom.

and that's quite what it is, but with a bigger sounds that leans more towards the metal spectrum than rock in terms of rock and heavyness.

the vocals are real gruff but intelligible like a rough bellow or a strong shout there's a fair amount of 'singing' which sounds great as well. the lyrics are spacey and stick with the themes of the songs(flying into the sun, riding dragons, stoner caravans, etc.) both fit the music very well.

the music sounds like black sabbath, but with a stronger emphasis on their heavier nature. if you liked volume four, and like a lot of fans of heavy music, you probably want more. this album takes what vol.4 did and runs with it, and as a huge fan of sabbath, i couldn't be happier.

sometimes i think it would be nice if the music had a bigger production, like that of high on fire's art of self-defense(matt pike's new band, if you like sleep and venom go check them out) or dopesmoker. it would be absolutely killer.

as it is, the sound isn't horrible, you can hear everything fine and it doesn't really detract from the experience, it just makes me wonder how much better it could've been with a 'proper' sound.

This is a classic in every sense of the word. Sleep was one of those bands that had a heavy influence on most of todays fuzzed out stoner rock. Matt Pike has went on to form High on Fire which are good to but in my opinion Sleep was better. Holy mountain has a wicked sound, and it's slow as hell. They have huge build ups until they drag in a riff that will melt your speakers.The Orange amps they used give this release a distinct sound. This album is worth every penny.

I've heard a lot about this album from many websites how it's "the most influential stoner metal album next to Kyuss and Monster Magnet" etc. Well, I don't think it's the best, but it's a good album anyway. Sleep is pretty much what would happen if Black Sabbath stopped writing epic songs with keyboards (I'm talking about the majority of Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath) and got back to their roots. Sleep also can jam like the best of them. Matt Pike, while a little flashy on solos, has great rythym and unleashes some fine riffs throughout the album. Al Cisneros, who must have studied under Geezer Butler, is great on bass and can sing quite well (When he wants to. The Druid and Under The Sun have this weird scream thing that's a little annoying, but he sings for the most of the album). And Chris Haikus is a very good drummer who does some interesting fills. The songs are good too. Dragonaut has one of the best riffs of all time, Aquarian is a good song with a great vibe to it. The best is From Beyond, which has some excellent riffs, and some cool jamming. The reason I gave it 4 stars is that the production isn't that great. It's a little buried at times, but that's nothing a Bose can't handle. Good stuff if you're looking for early doom or are a big Sabbath fan.

C# tuning. Reverb and phase and a hint of delay on the vocals. Pentatonic scales. Dirty bass and driving drums. Black Sabbath? No, but they could be. If you like "Master of Reality" by Black Sabbath, especially "Lord of this World" and "Into the Void" (two of the greatest stoner-rock songs ever created), then you'll love Sleep's Holy Mountain. The CD itself even reeks of bong water and George Dickell whiskey. So sit back, toke up and let the Sleep experience begin. You won't be disappointed.

Sleep are a band of somewhat cult status now, and it's mostly thanks to this monstrously heavy riff onslaught and their 60+ minute journey aptly named 'Dopesmoker'. For those High on Fire fans, you probably already know this, but if not, Matt Pike was the lead guitarist for Sleep, and he certainly laid down a few smacking riffs in their short discography. Along with makeshift vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros, Sleep made a brutal, raw form of stoner rock/metal with next to no production qualities, and next to no signs of intellectual lyrics. But that simply adds to the no-messing attitude.

The album starts off with a bang, 'Dragonaut' is a Sleep classic, starting with a lovely Sabbathy riff, the band spiral in and out of more huge riffs, psychedelic lyrics (riding dragons to crimson eyes and the likes) and some lovely tempo changes. This song pretty much sums up what Sleep are all about, it's unapologetic, heavy and above all great fun. The fundamental thing that must be pointed out is that this is definitely not for people looking for 'fancy' and 'flowery' guitar work, intellectual lyrics and intricate drum playing. This is cock-out, heavy, stoned metal.

'The Druid' and 'Evil Gypsy/Solomon's Theme' are more of the same: riffs-a-plenty, silly lyrics sung with not much care, and above all they get my head and toes tapping. 'Solomon's Theme' it should be noted has a fantastic tempo change and a lovely climatic onslaught.

'Some Grass' is a little break, a nice guitar only piece that leads us into 'Aquarium', one of my highlights of the album. The main riff here is simply stunning, and once again the band, while they would seem 'sludgy' at times, are actually very tight, and above all very patient. Never at any point do they get a good riff, and rush it, everything is taken with a sophisticated, relaxed feeling.

The last half of the album is simply relentless, far heavier and slower than the first part, containing two epics in the title track which bludgeons its 8 minutes away with an especially brutal middle section, and the simply huge sounding crescendos of 'From Beyond'. I've read some reviewers disliking the second half of the album, I did initially but now I enjoy it equally for its slower, heavier aspects.

Overall this album is great fun, its not intellectual, pretentious, fancy...its just no-messing, heavy stoner metal to sit back to and enjoy.

For fans of High on Fire, Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, Kyuss etc

Very "addictive" in a word. If a particularity the sabbath sound has is:addictive once you tested you cant live without listen any band with this influence at least once a week and Sleep is like an energetic bar with this ingredient that you need to consume in your regular meals , that heavy and slow riffs , followed then by a rythm section with a lot of bass and drums and a voice like out of this world and lirycs sometimes incomprehensible completes a style that many bands have adopted and remain loyal to it
HM

Science fiction, pot, God, Black Sabbath. I can still imagine the NASA archive footage.

Yes.

This record is basically a 52-minute, druggy homage to Black Sabbath with massive fuzz guitars and lyrics that record all sorts of psychedelic hallucinations. There's not much else to say about it. The singing is not that great but then there isn't much of it either. Stoner or doom rock fans who like the early Sabbath sound will probably dig this. Anyone else probably won't get it. Although it's in vaguely the same genre as Kyuss' "Blues for the Red Sun" and Monster Magnet's "Spine of God", I'd have to say that "Holy Mountain" goes further in terms of sheer heaviness and drugged-out lunacy. Not a terribly original disc, but well done.

I loved it when it first came out, and I still love it. Yes, its very "Sabbath", but also goes far beyond that. They are the best psychadelic rock band I have ever seen play, and this record is almost as good as their shows.
It's way more subtle and low-key than Sabbath or Kyuss, real underground stuff.
Dirty and deep.
Spiritual music.
I also like their other few releases, but this album is their best. Neverthelss I absolutely understand that many will disagree and not enjoy this record. It's too underground to be appreciated by a majority of consumers. But give it a shot, if you like it, you'll probably REALLY like it.