Sleep to Bring Stoner-Doom Goodness to The Showbox on June 5th

The words have failed them all. Since by the time you’ve read this far you’ve already read words that are intended to be touchstones but which do nothing but make it easier to not hear what should be all about hearing: their music.

So let’s dispense with “stoner” and “doom” and while “metal” is a good catch-all even that does what SLEEP does an injustice. What SLEEP does and has been doing since 1990. Since San Jose. Since vocalist and bassist Al Cisneros hinted darkly at his next act after Asbestosdeath. Make something that was like something you had never heard/felt before even if you had heard/felt it before. Like wind or the yawning subsonic expanse of an earthquake: something undeniably large.

And like ragas, the songs were not just songs but movements and the movements trended toward the eternal. Almost time-wise too with songs that lasted as long as some entire records, which is as long as it needs to be to get short-sighted labels to drop you. And beyond time, the weight was equally significant. Heavy, sublime and not even a little bit ridiculous and whether or not these were influenced by the sacramental consumption of weed really misses the point.

Sleep will be playing The Showbox on Tuesday, June 5th. Tickets can be found here.